


Divided Loyalties: Trinity

by LennaNightrunner, Savannah_Clover



Series: Divided Loyalties [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Multi, Side Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-02-13
Packaged: 2018-05-11 02:04:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5609692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LennaNightrunner/pseuds/LennaNightrunner, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Savannah_Clover/pseuds/Savannah_Clover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SPOILERS FOR DIVIDED LOYALTIES. This is a three-part companion piece to Divided Loyalties. It is in no way crucial to understanding the main plot of Divided Loyalties; it's just for fun!</p><p>Summary: What have Scott, Isaac, and Allison been up to all this time?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Trinity Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DIVIDED LOYALTIES: TRINITY

PART I

ISAAC

It had started when Isaac and Allison had been trapped together in the janitor’s closet.

Or, more specifically, when Scott had stopped Isaac from ripping Allison to pieces in the janitor’s closet.

Sure, Isaac had still been a little pissed about being stabbed, and yeah, he’d felt awkward and nervous around her for reasons he didn’t want to think about because she was Scott’s girlfriend and a werewolf hunter, but he didn’t want to _kill_ Allison.

So he had mostly been trying to avoid her, which had been fine until Mr. Harris had paired them up for lunch detention. Even then, Isaac had thought he would’ve been able to ignore her if she hadn’t been so insistent about asking him questions.

Allison had this frustrating way of being charming even when Isaac was annoyed with her. So despite the fact that he had resolved not to interact with her, Isaac had found himself being drawn into a conversation, even laughing just a bit right before the door had slammed shut and trapped them.

Gratitude was the first thing Isaac felt when Scott freed them and snapped Isaac out of his claustrophobia-induced loss of control. He was grateful to Scott for yelling at him, for forcing the panicking beta wolf inside Isaac into submission. Then the guilt set in..

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that. I’m so sorry,” Isaac apologized profusely while Allison tried to reassure Scott that she was okay. Scott didn’t look convinced when he saw the scratches on her arm, though.

Isaac didn’t blame him. They were dating, for Christ’s sake, of course Scott was going to be protective of Allison. Isaac caught the brief flash of anger in Scott’s eyes when he looked down at Isaac, heard the spike of Scott’s pulse as Allison insisted that it wasn’t Isaac’s fault. Isaac was sure that this was it; Isaac hurting Allison was the end of his brief, tentative friendship with Scott.

It was only when Scott agreed with Allison, that Isaac realized that Scott was angry _for_ Isaac, not _at_ him; for what the twins had tried to do to Isaac _and_ Allison. It made Isaac want to prove to Scott and Allison that their trust in him wasn’t misplaced. 

It was Allison’s idea to use the bike, but Isaac’s to drive it through the school, which was why he was the one who got to do it. That, and the fact he was the only one willing to risk getting suspended if he got caught. (It wasn’t like he had parents to yell at him if he got in trouble, right? School was boring, anyway.)

It wasn’t until later that Isaac had the time to think about it, but just after she had given Isaac the fastest motorcycle lesson of all time, there had been something about the way Allison had looked at him that was… significant. At the time, he had written it off as excitement for their insane revenge plot, and, honestly, Isaac had been a little too preoccupied with wanting to get back at the twins to worry about anything else.

But afterwards, he couldn’t stop thinking about how, up-close, Allison’s eyes were the color of amber, or how her smaller, long-fingered hand had felt wrapped around his as she showed him how to rev the engine with practiced ease--although where the hell had she learned how to hotwire a motorcycle, let alone drive one?--and Isaac was forced to admit to himself that maybe it wasn’t just awkwardness or nervousness that had made him try avoid her.

The three of them shared a very satisfying laugh after Ms. Morrell suspended Aiden--the kind of laugh that was shared between friends--and Isaac dared to hope that that, apart from the constant threat of death, everything might be kind of okay for once, at least between him and Scott. Scott even gave Isaac a ride back to Derek’s loft, which was interesting on the back of his motorbike. At first, Isaac tried hanging on to the carriage and leaning back to avoid crowding Scott. That seemed to work fairly well until they almost ate it on a particularly tight turn.

“Isaac, you’re going to have to hold on to me. I’m not really used to driving with other people yet.”

“...Are you sure?” Isaac asked, making Scott laugh and threaten to _make_ Isaac hang on (Isaac wasn’t sure what that meant, but he didn’t want to risk it). 

Isaac hesitantly put his hands on Scott’s waist and leaned forward so that his chest was against Scott’s back. Isaac could feel the difference immediately, or at least, Scott’s driving definitely improved anyway. When Isaac realized how much the change in position was working, he let himself relax a little against Scott. The ride was pretty comfortable after that.

Maybe it was just the fact that nobody was trying to kill him this time, but it was the best ride Isaac had had on a bike yet. He was almost disappointed when they pulled up in front of the loft.

“Sorry I yelled at you earlier,” Scott said as Isaac handed him back the spare helmet.

Isaac hiked his bag up higher on his shoulder. “It made me stop freaking out. Don’t apologize for that. I’m… I’m glad Allison’s okay.”

Scott nodded. “Yeah. And I’m glad you’re okay, too.”

“Me? I wasn’t the one who almost got killed.”

“Still,” said Scott. “It must’ve sucked feeling trapped like that. And who knows what else the twins could’ve been planning to do to you? It was a close call.”

Isaac shifted uncomfortably. He never knew what to do with Scott’s unflinching sincerity and his concern for others.

“How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Just… _care_. About everyone,” said Isaac. “People aren’t like that.”

“Maybe you just haven’t met enough of the right people,” Scott said with a kind smile.

Isaac just shook his head, a little jealous of the naive bubble Scott must live his life in if he could stay positive even with everything that was going on around them. Isaac tried to imagine what it would’ve been like to grow up like Scott, surrounded by a loving, supportive family and devoted friends. But he couldn’t picture that life for himself. Sure, there had been some good times, before… But even though those were the memories that kept Isaac human on the full moon, they hardly felt like they had ever been real. Just another bedtime story that scared kids tell themselves to fall asleep. He’d lived more of his life in the ‘after’ now than the ‘before.’

“Maybe,” he said after an uncomfortably long beat. Let Scott stay in his happy little bubble as long as the world let him. Isaac wasn’t going to be the one to pop it.

“Well. I’ll see you tomorrow?” Scott asked, after another awkwardly long silence. It probably hadn’t really been meant as a question--just one of those polite things people say to each other--but Isaac found himself answering anyway. 

“Yeah, see you.” And as Isaac watched Scott ride off, he surprised himself by almost kind of looking forward to school the next day. It had been a _very_ long time since he’d felt that.

Scott’s contagious optimism was short-lived in Isaac, though. Something had happened with Derek. Isaac was sure there was some stupid reason behind Derek’s rejection, because his excuses screamed ‘lie, lie, lie’ at Isaac’s instincts. But arguing with Derek was no use, and even if his words weren’t true, they still hurt. And then Derek threw the glass at him...

There was only one place Isaac could think of to go when he found himself standing downstairs in the rain with all of his very few worldly possessions in one bag, and he wasn’t actually sure how well that was going to work out. Just because Scott didn’t want Isaac to get hurt by the alphas didn’t mean that Scott would care that Derek didn’t want Isaac around anymore. Scott was a nice guy, so he might be sympathetic, but Isaac wasn’t Scott’s problem.

Still, he was Isaac’s only option. While Isaac walked, rain soaking into his clothes, his bag, his shoes, from Derek’s loft to Scott’s house, he tried to figure out what he was going to say. 

* * *

SCOTT 

It was almost novel, for another werewolf to actually knock on a door rather than just coming into Scott’s room through a window, which made Isaac’s late-night appearance all the more surprising. Scott had been distracted enough by his homework (he’d been trying to make the most of a small pocket of time where he wasn’t actively under threat to do it) that he hadn’t even heard the front door open.

“Um, I was wondering if I could, uh,” Isaac started awkwardly, “ask you a favor.”

“What happened?” asked Scott, alarmed. Isaac was soaked to the skin, which was no wonder considering how hard it was raining outside. Scott stood up and took a step forward, but stopped when he noticed Isaac flinch. It seemed unconscious, but Scott still kept his distance, not wanting to scare Isaac off. 

“Derek, uh...” Isaac shifted uncomfortably, keeping his eyes averted from Scott’s. “He thinks I should stay somewhere else for a while. Can--”

“Of course you can stay here,” Scott said immediately. “I mean, I’ll ask my mom, but I’m sure it’s okay.”

Isaac gave Scott a shy, grateful smile. Scott noticed him trying not to shiver.

“Man, you must be freezing. Do you have other clothes with you?”

“Yeah, but they’re kinda wet, too.” Isaac glanced down at his dripping duffle.

“You can use my shower,” said Scott. “There’s an extra towel in the cupboard and I’ll find something you can wear.

Isaac looked like he was going to say something, then seemed to change his mind. Instead, he just shot Scott another quick smile and ducked into the bathroom. 

Scott picked out one of his larger T-shirts and a pair of lacrosse shorts for Isaac to wear since he was taller and had a broader chest than Scott did. He set them down on the floor outside the bathroom door.

“Clothes are out here when you’re done,” he said through the door. “I’m going downstairs.”

Scott found his mom in the kitchen making her work meals for the rest of the week.

“Did you let Isaac in?”

“Yeah,” said his mom. “He looked like a pitiful, lost puppy. Which I guess he kind of is,” she added. “Is he okay?”

“I don’t know,” said Scott, frowning. “All he said was that Derek wanted him to leave.”

Scott’s mom made a disapproving noise through pursed lips, but didn’t comment. Instead, she said, “Well, he’s more than welcome to stay here. God knows I’m used to having extra teenage boys hanging around all the time, thanks to Stiles.”

“Thanks, Mom,” said Scott, relieved in spite of the fact that he’d been almost positive that his mom would invite Isaac to stay; he hadn’t really had a back-up plan. “I don’t think he has anywhere else to go.”

“Tell him he can stay as long as he wants,” she said with a kind of sad smile. “And take up the the leftover pizza. I’m pretty sure I saw ribs through his shirt.”

A few minutes later, Scott heard the water turn off. He grabbed the rest of the pizza from the fridge and headed back upstairs. Isaac was dressed in the clothes Scott had left him and was looking around Scott’s room. Scott realized then that the only time Isaac had been in his house before that point was when he and Erica and the others had been trying to kill Lydia because they had thought she was the Kanima. Isaac paused when he got to one of the pictures of Scott and his mom.

“My mom says it’s cool if you stay. As long as you want,” said Scott, stepping into the room. “Pizza?” He held out the box. Isaac hesitated, looking a little overwhelmed (even without taking into account that Scott could hear his pulse racing), but clearly trying hard not to seem like he was.

“I’m okay,” said Isaac.

Scott didn’t believe him, but he also didn’t want to push Isaac. The important thing right now was for Isaac to feel safe and welcome so he wouldn’t bolt and try to go somewhere else. Scott had said it himself; he wasn’t sure Isaac had anywhere else to go. Honestly, Scott was a little surprised that Isaac had even come to him. He hadn’t been sure that Isaac particularly liked him or trusted him. It was kind of hard to tell with Isaac. Scott tried to think where _he_ would go if he had an alpha who had pushed him away and he had no home to go back to. Probably Stiles’ house. Or maybe Allison’s? If her dad wasn’t home, anyway.

Back when they were going to try to stop the Kanima, Isaac had said said that he didn’t have anyone he cared about in Beacon Hills. At the time, Scott had thought that maybe Isaac had just meant family. Did he really not have any other friends outside of Derek’s pack?

Now that he thought about it, Scott realized that he didn’t actually know much about Isaac. They had lived in the same town their whole lives, gone to school together since they were little kids, played lacrosse together, but it had only been after they had both become werewolves that they’d actually started spending time together (and a lot of that had been either fighting each other or fighting the Kanima or Matt or Gerard). Not exactly Scott’s preferred way of getting to know someone, though that seemed to be the main way he got to know people lately...

Scott grabbed a piece of pizza for himself and put the box down on his bed. “We should throw your clothes in the dryer, if you want. I could hang your bag and shoes in the shower, stuff them with newspaper so you can use them tomorrow.”

Isaac nodded and grabbed his stuff from the bathroom. Everything in his duffle was soaked, including his school stuff. He shrugged and threw the soggy notebooks in the small trash can near Scott’s desk, completely unconcerned about them. Based on what Scott had seen, school hadn’t really seemed like a priority for Isaac lately, and Scott guessed he couldn’t blame him, considering everything that had happened over the past few months.

“It’s okay, I wasn’t really using them anyway,” said Isaac. “Derek doesn’t exactly check my homework.”

Scott thought he saw a brief flash of bitterness cross Isaac’s face when he said Derek’s name, but it was gone in a second, replaced by the aloof smirk that Isaac wore when he was trying to act like something didn’t matter.

Aside from a couple of odd pens and pencils, everything else in Isaac’s bag was clothing. By the time Scott got back from throwing the wet clothes in the dryer and hanging up Isaac’s bag, he found Isaac sitting on the floor, falling asleep sitting up against his bed. Scott was glad to see that the rest of the pizza was gone; at least Isaac was warm and dry and had a full stomach now.

“Isaac,” Scott said quietly, setting the empty pizza box on his desk. Isaac made a tired noise that sounded like he was trying to say, “I’m awake,” which he clearly wasn’t. Scott supposed that walking several miles in the pouring rain would do that to a person, even one with werewolf stamina. “Come on, Isaac. Time for bed.” 

Scott grabbed Isaac by the arms and tried to haul him up onto the bed. Isaac didn’t seem to want to cooperate, though. Werewolf strength was no match for someone so tall who seemed determined to remain dead weight (and was a werewolf, too).

“I’m good on the floor,” Isaac insisted sleepily. “I’m not going to take your bed.” 

“It’s fine,” said Scott. “I can sleep in the chair. I do it all the time.”

Scott almost got Isaac sitting on the bed before Isaac managed to slip out of Scott’s grip and land back on the floor.

“Well then, you can sleep in the chair, and I’ll sleep on the floor, and then nobody will be sleeping in your bed,” said Isaac, rolling his eyes. “Seems like a waste of a bed.” 

“Which is why you should use it.” Scott laughed and sat down beside Isaac on the floor. He leaned his back against the bed, letting his head fall back. He should really get back to his homework, but the floor actually wasn’t all that uncomfortable, and Isaac’s sleepiness was a little contagious. Was that a wolf thing? It was a thing with lions or something, right? Scott made a mental note to ask Deaton about it later.

“Okay, how about you take the bed until I finish my homework?” Scott suggested. “Then you can sleep wherever you want.”

“Scott--”

“And I’m going to sit here until you say yes,” said Scott, shifting to get more comfortable. His eyes slid closed, and he told himself that he was just resting them for a minute. As soon as Isaac stopped fighting him about the bed, he could get back to his homework...

When Scott woke up, he was lying on top of his covers, his light was off, and Isaac was asleep on the floor nearby. The clock beside Scott’s bed showed he’d only been asleep for a couple of hours, so he still had a few more before his alarm would go off. He could either get up and finish his homework or he could take advantage of how comfortable his pillow was.

Still, he felt bad that Isaac was on the floor. If Isaac was going to be staying with him, there was no way Scott was going to let that happen again.

* * *

ALLISON

“Hi.”

Not Allison’s best opening line, but when it came to Isaac, Allison didn’t really know how to… well, anything. How to talk to him, how to behave around him. Everything else aside, he was a werewolf and she was a werewolf hunter; things were always going to be weird between them. The fact that she had physically fought him and stabbed him (repeatedly) and he was now keeping a pretty big secret for her (namely, that she was still hunting behind everyone’s backs, including her father’s and Scott’s) were basically just two more shovels of dirt into the hole of awkwardness they’d been digging for months now. Or shovels of dirt _out_ of the hole? Metaphors weren’t really Allison’s strong suit... 

But when she had seen Isaac sitting all alone at lunch that day, Allison had decided that she should make another attempt at making things better between them--a real attempt this time, not just trying to find out if Isaac had said anything to Scott about her late night vigilantism. And hopefully this time the conversation wouldn’t end with Isaac losing control and almost attacking her.

“Can I sit?” Allison asked when Isaac didn’t respond, gesturing with her tray at the space beside Isaac on the grass.

“Why?” he asked, confused rather than hostile, which Allison figured was an improvement. So she sat down.

“Scott said you’re staying with him for a while?” she asked casually as she inspected the apple that had come with her lunch. She didn’t want to look at Isaac directly for too long. It felt… not awkward exactly, but… tense? Or _in_ tense, maybe?

“Yeah,” said Isaac. He was kind of idly moving his food around on his lunch try, but not eating it. “I mean, I think so. His mom’s being really cool about it.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty great,” said Allison. She risked a glance up at Isaac. “Scott was really relieved when she came around to all this werewolf stuff. It can be kind of a lot to take in.”

Isaac was giving Allison this strange look that made her want to focus on her apple again. Yep, ‘intense’ was the word she’d been looking for. Definitely intense.

“What are you doing?” he asked after a pause.

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

Isaac looked pointedly around, causing Allison to look too, but she had no idea what Isaac expected her to see.

“Do you see anyone else around?”

“No.”

“Right, because I eat lunch alone.”

“But you’re not eating anything,” she said, gesturing toward his tray, which he had abandoned altogether now.

Isaac blinked. “Yeah, well. I can still like sitting alone, can’t I?”

“But you didn’t say that you like it.”

“What?”

“You didn’t say that you _like_ eating alone,” said Allison, “just that you do it.”

Isaac stared at her blankly for several long seconds.

“Well. I do like it,” he said finally. The lie was pretty unconvincing, even to someone who couldn’t determine Isaac’s level of truthfulness by listening to his heartbeat, but there wasn’t much Allison could really say to that.

This had been a terrible idea. Isaac must _hate_ her. What was she even trying to accomplish here? What did she think was going to happen--that they were magically going to be friends just because they had teamed up against the twins one time?

Even if he was staying with Scott now, Isaac was still part of Derek’s pack, wasn’t he? Allison didn’t really understand where Scott’s allegiances officially lay (since he wasn’t technically part of a pack), but even if they were all against Deucalion, Allison was pretty sure that didn’t necessarily put Scott and Derek on the same side. It could just be a ‘the enemy of my enemy’ situation at the end of the day. Scott said that he considered Derek one of his closest friends, but that didn’t mean that he trusted him. Allison hadn’t even thought to ask how Scott viewed Isaac.

Of course, with Scott and her dad both _strongly suggesting_ that she stay away from hunting and interfering with the alpha pack (for her own safety), she basically hadn’t been around Derek or his pack at all--except for seeing Isaac and Jackson at school--since they had saved Jackson. She hadn’t even gotten to spend much time with Lydia lately, actually. Allison’s social life recently had been pretty Scott-centric, which was fine since she loved him and he was really fun to be around, but it struck her as kind of pathetic now that the remainder of her time had been spent with her dad, who she also loved, but still. She resolved in that moment to make a better effort to spend time with Lydia.

After about a minute of awkward silence between her and Isaac, Allison started trying to figure out a way to politely leave.

“Why didn’t Scott join Derek’s pack?” Isaac asked suddenly.

“I-- “ Allison was a little taken aback. She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve never asked.”

“But you’ve been dating him the whole time he’s been a werewolf, right?” Isaac looked skeptical. “He never once talked about why he decided to be on his own?”

“Well, for a while, we were all pretty sure that Derek was trying to kill us,” Allison pointed out. “Then Derek lied to Scott about there being a chance that he could be human again, just so Derek could manipulate us into helping him kill Peter--who was the one who bit Scott in the first place--and take his alpha power.”

“But Derek--”

“Why did he turn you?” Allison asked, cutting off whatever defense Isaac could possibly make for Derek. Thanks to her family’s history with the Hales, Allison found she wasn’t inclined to trust him, either. She had a feeling that Derek wouldn’t make Allison’s safety a priority considering that she was the niece of the woman who had murdered his first pack. Plus, Allison hadn’t forgotten how Derek had preyed on Isaac, Erica, and Boyd, who were all vulnerable kids, when he had built his new pack. Maybe it was their choice to take the Bite, but they hadn’t known what they were getting into, and now Erica was dead because of it. And now Derek apparently wasn’t even taking responsibility for his remaining betas, since he’d thrown Isaac out. Allison felt bad for Isaac about that, but he was probably better off away from Derek.

That seemed to be the wrong question, however, because Allison could practically see Isaac’s defenses go back up. She hadn’t even realized they had come down.

“Derek needs us,” Isaac said quietly, resolutely. “All of us. You’ve seen what happens when we split up. The alphas--”

Isaac cut himself off and took a deep breath. It was plain how upset this was making him. It couldn’t be easy, trying to help someone and then having them treat you like you didn’t matter at all. Seeing Isaac like this only reinforced Allison’s feelings about how wrongly Derek had treated Isaac and the others. As far as Allison was concerned, Derek didn’t deserve the loyalty his betas gave him.

“The alphas are strong,” Isaac started again, calmer now. “They’re strong and they’re only getting stronger and we should work together. Scott could help us.”

“Scott _is_ helping,” Allison insisted. “He’s just not willing to do things Derek’s way.”

When Isaac didn’t have an immediate comeback for that, she pressed on.

“But, maybe, you could help Scott.”

“Help him with what?” asked Isaac, suspicious again.

“Well, I was wondering, since you’re going to be staying with him, if you could maybe keep an eye on him for me?” Allison rushed to explain herself. “He’s so worried about keeping everyone else safe, I just want to make sure he’s safe, too.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that he seems to have a bit of a hero complex.” Isaac smirked.

Just like that, the tension diffused, and Allison laughed. “Sure, I guess that’s as good a way as any to say that he cares more about other people than he does about himself.”

“Which is another way of saying he’s got a death wish,” said Isaac, but he was smiling. “I guess I can try to keep him from doing something stupid while he’s trying to save everyone else’s asses. God knows Stiles sucks at it.”

Even though Isaac’s phrasing was very, well, _Isaac-y_ , Allison knew that he meant it, and just hearing him say that relieved a bit of the stress Allison had been carrying for the last few weeks. Not much, but a bit.

“Thank you, Isaac,” she said sincerely.

Isaac rubbed at the back of his neck and looked away. “It’s not really a big deal. Like you said, I’m already staying with him.”

Allison wanted to insist that it was, that being there for Scott when she couldn’t was a _huge_ deal, at least to her. But this quiet, modest Isaac was so unlike the brash, smug Isaac that she was used to, she found that she didn’t want to push the issue.

Instead she looked down at her tray of terrible cafeteria food--there hadn’t been much time to prepare lunches lately--and figured she probably ought to eat at some point. The apple, at the very least.

“I haven’t said anything, by the way,” said Isaac. Allison looked at him, confused until he clarified: “About you being at the school the other night. Helping with Cora and Boyd.”

That news relieved a bit more of Allison’s stress. The fact that neither Scott nor her dad had said anything to her about it had made her pretty sure that Isaac had kept her secret, but it was still nice to hear it. 

“I really appreciate it, Isaac. Scott just… Scott and my dad… They want me to be safe. They don’t think I should get involved with this stuff.”

 _They don’t trust me after Gerard_ , she thought privately. The thought was unfair, but she couldn’t help but wonder if that was part of the reason. Looking back on what she had done under his influence, how cold and cruel she had been, Allison couldn’t blame them. She wouldn’t trust that version of herself, either. She would’ve thought Isaac would feel the same way considering what she had done to him in particular, but apparently that wasn’t the case.

“I don’t know,” said Isaac, “you seem pretty involved to me. Besides, aren’t you safer if you know what’s going on?”

Allison smiled and threw her hands up. “Finally, someone who gets it! Honestly, sometimes I think they’d lock me up somewhere until this all blows over if they could.” She dropped her hands onto her face dramatically.

“So far it doesn’t seem like locking you up has made you any safer,” Isaac said quietly.

She’d meant for Isaac to laugh, not to make him think about what had almost happened the other day. Allison dropped her arms and looked at Isaac, horrified. How could she make jokes about being locked up after _that_?

“Isaac, no, I didn’t mean--”

“Locked in a closet with a monster...”

“Isaac, that wasn’t--”

“I’m sorry.” Isaac shook his head, not listening to her protestations. “I’m so, so sorry, Allison.”

“I know,” said Allison. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

“It’s not okay,” he said vehemently. “I could’ve killed you! I _would’ve_ killed you if Scott hadn’t--”

“It’s not your fault, Isaac. It was the twins.” Allison tried to keep her voice calm, worried that Isaac might get too worked up. She glanced around, but nobody seemed to be paying attention to them. Isaac had done a good job of being alone until Allison had come over.

“I should’ve been paying attention,” Isaac insisted. “I would’ve heard them.” At least he didn’t seem to be close to wolfing out, Allison thought, with no small measure of relief. She didn’t want to keep pushing him, but she also didn’t want Isaac to think that what had happened was all on him.

“And I should’ve realized that maybe a supply closet wasn’t the best place for you to--”

“Don’t feel sorry for me,” Isaac said sharply. “Okay? Just… don’t.”

The tension was threatening to come back, so Allison tried to break it before it got worse.

“Okay. I won’t.” She didn’t quite succeed in hiding a smile when she added, “Wuss.”

Isaac weakly returned the smile. “Totally. I am a gigantic wuss.”

“That’s all right,” said Allison as she patted him on the shoulder. “You can hide behind me. I have lots of weapons.”

“Oh, I remember,” Isaac muttered, and maybe something had shifted between them, because this time they were both able to laugh easily.

When Allison’s laughter faded, she was left with an intense need to make sure things were really okay between them. She felt terrible about the things she’d done, the people she had hurt working with Gerard. It was too late to apologize to Erica, but maybe she could make things right with Isaac. “I’m sorry, too. For everything. You know that, right?”

Isaac nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“Good.” She gave Isaac a warm smile and made a decision.

“Come on, let’s go,” she said, standing up abruptly.

“Go where?” Isaac asked, already getting to his feet.

“I’m not letting you sit here and _not_ eat lunch alone,” said Allison as she started walking back towards the school picnic tables where the others were eating. There was always room for one more.

* * *

ISAAC 

How could it have all gone so wrong?

Granted, when Isaac had insisted on going with Scott to meet Deucalion, it had been because Isaac had known that there was very little chance it would go _well_ , but that didn’t mean he was happy about having been proven right. And he certainly hadn’t anticipated it going down like _this_.

When Derek and the others had shown up, Isaac couldn’t believe that they hadn’t told him what they were planning... Until he remembered that he hadn’t exactly kept them in the loop, either. But Isaac and Scott hadn’t come to pick a fight like Derek clearly had.

Scott had wanted to talk; he had wanted to stop all of this, not escalate it.

After Isaac saw Boyd take off, he pulled Scott to his very shaky feet and half-supported, half-dragged him out of the abandoned mall.

“Are you guys okay?” Allison was waiting for them by Scott’s bike, bow at the ready.

“That’s the last time I’ll ever get Mexican food with Scott here,” said Isaac, “but I think we’ll live.”

Scott huffed weakly, probably the closest sound to a laugh he could make with the way his side was sliced open.

“Come on, we have to get out of here,” Allison said, scanning the area, looking every bit the hunter Isaac knew she was.

“Derek,” Scott muttered weakly. “We have to go back for him.”

Isaac resisted the urge to shake some sense into Scott. “Trust me, I don’t like this any more than you do. But we can’t help him.”

In fact, Isaac _hated_ it. Leaving Derek behind, despite what had happened between them last week, felt like someone was twisting a white-hot knife in his stomach and then drowning him in a pool of salt and lemon juice. He felt like he was going to be sick. Like he was betraying Derek by not even trying to see if he was dead or not.

But the only reason they had made it out at all was the fact that the alphas were too busy checking on the guy who fell with Derek to worry about a bunch of kids fleeing for their lives.

Isaac knew there was nothing he could’ve done for Derek, but at least he could make sure Scott made it out of there alive. Allison had been right: Scott’s hero complex had already gotten him into trouble tonight, and going back for Derek would definitely get him killed.

“There’s no way he can ride like this,” Isaac said to Allison.

“I just need a minute,” said Scott. And he _was_ supporting more of his own weight now and his eyes were beginning to focus again, but Isaac didn’t let go when Scott tried to push away from him, still unsteady on his feet.

Allison chewed her lip thoughtfully and lowered her bow. “Help me get him to my car. I’ll drive him back and you can take his bike.”

She ducked under Scott’s other arm. Isaac didn’t want to tell her that it wasn’t necessary--werewolf strength and all--because it seemed to be more about needing to have contact with Scott than anything else. 

“No,” said Scott. “We have to tell the others what happened. Jackson...”

“Jackson doesn’t know,” Isaac finished for him.

“Can you find him and tell him? I need to check on Stiles.”

“No way. I’m not letting you go off on your own like this.”

“I agree with Isaac,” said Allison. “You guys should stick together right now,”

Isaac dug his phone out of his pocket and handed it to Scott. “You call Jackson. I’ll drive to Stiles’.”

Isaac ducked out from under Scott’s arm and onto Scott’s bike without giving him a chance to refuse. Instead of arguing however, Scott surprised Isaac by immediately tossing Isaac his keys.

“It’s probably better we’re not splitting up right now anyway,” Scott said as Allison helped get him on the back of his bike behind Isaac.

“Because of the alphas?” Isaac asked.

“Because I’m really glad I don’t have to worry about driving right now,” said Scott, leaning heavily against Isaac’s back in a way that would have been actually kind of nice if it didn’t make Isaac worry about how much blood Scott was losing.

Isaac looked at Allison. “You coming?”

Allison shook her head. “I have to get back before my dad notices. You’re not the only one who tried to make me stop doing stuff like this.” She gave him a pointed look and gestured with her bow. 

“Allison… Thanks… For not listening to me,” Scott managed.

The corner of her mouth quirked wryly. Even in this state, she wasn’t going to make it easy on him. “And?”

“And… I would really like your help dealing with the alpha pack.”

“Looks like you already found pretty good back up,” she said with a tight smile in Isaac’s direction. “But I would be glad to continue to protect you.” Allison’s tone softened and, she kissed Scott’s forehead before helping him with his helmet.

Isaac looked away, feeling like he was intruding on something personal.

Allison stepped back and glanced at Isaac hesitantly, like she wanted to say something else, then shook her head. “You sure you’re all right to drive?” She looked meaningfully at the already-healing gash in his chest.

“I’ll manage.” Isaac shrugged. It wasn’t like they had much choice. “I’m getting pretty good on bikes anyway. Lots of practice recently. Plus, I had a good teacher.” 

Allison smiled briefly at the compliment, before turning serious again.

“Stay safe, okay?” she said to Scott, worry and sadness mixing in her dark eyes before she unexpectedly turned them back onto Isaac, making his heart skip a beat. Her hand was warm on his wrist. “Both of you.”

Isaac had a lot to think about on the way back to Scott’s. Mostly about what a horrible friend he was.

_Stay safe, okay?_

Allison’s warning reminded Isaac of the night that Isaac had worked with Scott to try to stop Jackson at the club. Scott had said something similar: 

_Be careful… I don’t want you to get hurt._

Somehow, Isaac had earned Scott’s trust, which couldn’t have been easy with Isaac doing his best to help Derek stop the Kanima any way he could. Even if they hadn’t instantly become friends, Scott had been worried about Isaac, and his concern had meant a lot. At that point, no one had been concerned about Isaac in a very long time.

Isaac was actually _surprised_ by how much it had meant to him. It had made him realize that he couldn’t leave with Erica and Boyd and had brought him back to help Scott stop Jackson from killing anyone at the lacrosse game (exacting some werewolf-strength-fueled revenge on a few bullying teammates had just been a perk).

And then Isaac had spent the summer trying to help Derek find Erica and Boyd and hadn’t really seen Scott in months and then Isaac had gone to Scott’s house in the pouring rain and here they were.

Isaac had wondered more than once if Derek had intentionally been trying to keep him away from Scott and the others. The few times Derek had met with any of them, he’d specifically made sure Isaac had something else to do, somewhere else to be. Even when Derek had made Isaac check on Stiles over the summer, he’d always been very specific that Isaac should make sure that Stiles was okay and then come right back to the loft. And then as soon as Jackson had accepted the fact that trying to be a lone wolf in Beacon Hills was a really stupid fucking idea, Derek had passed off that responsibility to Jackson. And everyone now knew how well _that_ had gone. 

Whether keeping Isaac away from Scott had ever been Derek’s intention, none of it mattered now; Isaac was freaking living with Scott. They were one sidecar away from being the Dynamic Duo.

Which made this, like, the definition of breaking the Bro Code. He was getting too close to Allison. Thinking about her too much. Being in her personal space. Betraying Scott’s trust by crushing on his girlfriend (because Isaac definitely was, no matter how he tried to ignore it).

So first he had betrayed Derek by getting too close to Scott, and now he had betrayed Scott by getting too close to Allison.

A horrible friend _and_ a horrible beta. Isaac had a lot of enemies, but he might just be his own worst one.

“Jackson isn’t picking up.” Behind him, Scott had taken off his helmet to make the phone call. Isaac thought that showed a remarkable amount of trust in Isaac’s ability not to crash. Head trauma might not kill a werewolf, but it would definitely slow down the healing process.

“It’s fine, they’re probably both at Stiles’ house anyway.”

“...Oh right. I keep forgetting that’s a thing.”

Isaac snorted. “How? It’s not like they’re exactly subtle.”

 

 

When they got to Stiles’ place, nobody answered the doorbell, but thanks to werewolf senses--and the fact that both of their cars were parked outside--Scott and Isaac knew that Stiles and Jackson were both there.

Since Sheriff Stilinski apparently refused to leave a spare key lying around (for safety reasons or some shit), Scott decided that they needed to climb in Stiles’ window.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” asked Isaac. 

“We have to tell them,” Scott said, one hand already on the drainpipe.

Isaac shifted uncomfortably. Sometimes Scott was too naive for his own good. “Right, but, we could probably just try calling again. Or maybe text.”

“Isaac, we’re already here.” 

Scott clearly had no idea what they were likely about to interrupt, so Isaac prepared himself for an incredibly awkward conversation and watched Scott start climbing. Or try to, anyway.

Normally this was something Scott probably could’ve done with his eyes closed--he’d told Isaac he’d been sneaking in and out of Stiles’ room even before he’d had werewolf strength, after all--but after tonight, he could barely pull himself off the ground.

“Here,” said Isaac, coming over to stand beside Scott. He braced one leg for Scott to use for a step to push himself high enough to reach the top of the porch.

“Thanks, Isaac.” Scott smiled weakly and dropped his hand on Isaac’s shoulder. Isaac tried to ignore the warm, pleased feeling growing in his stomach, the one he had come to associate with his alpha’s approval. Derek’s approval. Isaac’s stomach abruptly went cold. Derek, who was probably dead now, no thanks to Isaac. 

Isaac couldn’t think about that now. He’d chosen to help Scott and that was that. He couldn’t go back and change that decision. He wasn’t even sure if he would want to; knowing that Scott was alive and safe made Isaac too relieved, so much so that it absolutely outweighed the guilt of abandoning Derek. Isaac wondered what that said about him.

Even with Isaac’s help, Scott still had trouble, and Isaac ended up practically shoving him up, which reopened the wound in Isaac’s chest and in turn made it difficult for him to climb up. Scott had to grab his hand and help pull him up. It all would have been almost funny under other circumstances. At least it delayed the inevitable awkwardness they would have to deal with when Scott opened Stiles’ window.

And the conversation did not disappoint. It was exactly as awkward as Isaac had figured it would be (showing up unannounced where two people had definitely just been having sex).

Although, Isaac wasn’t sure if Scott realized right away. He seemed to be having trouble just staying on his feet after the exertion of climbing, and Isaac could tell Scott didn’t want Stiles to realize how badly he was injured, so Isaac was the one who interrupted Stiles. 

“Derek’s dead.” The second the words were out of his mouth, Isaac wished he could take them back. Saying it out loud made it feel real in a way it hadn’t before. He couldn’t bear to look at Jackson--at his _packmate_ , who had just lost his alpha, too--so he stared down at Stiles’ floor.

Together he and Scott told Jackson and Stiles what had happened, only leaving out one thing.

Isaac hadn’t forgotten his promise to Allison, not to tell anyone that she was still playing vigilante. Until she told him otherwise, Isaac was going to leave her out of it. Scott didn’t say anything about Isaac’s lie about the hunters, and if Jackson noticed it, he didn’t react. Even if he was listening to Isaac’s heartbeat, or cared, Jackson would probably just write it off as Isaac being upset. As it was, he seemed pretty distracted by the bigger, worse truth.

“--he would have at least called by now,” said Jackson, cutting Isaac off.

Isaac nodded. He wanted to say something to Jackson--they were pack, after all--but as always between them, there didn’t seem to be the words. Despite that, when Jackson moved away from Stiles’ comfort, Isaac was already stepping forward. He felt a twinge of sympathy for Stiles when Jackson let Isaac comfort him instead--no matter how briefly--but it was lost in the mutual reassurance of pack support. They might not be close--they might not even be _friends_ \--but Isaac had a connection with Jackson that Stiles never would, and that was what Jackson needed. It was what Isaac needed, too.

So when Jackson left and Scott decided to stay with Stiles, Isaac went to Boyd’s. Boyd had called while they were on their way to Stiles’ house to let them know he and Cora were safe, so Isaac wasn’t worried about him exactly, he just really needed to be with pack. And as much as Isaac was starting to realize that he wished that ‘pack’ could mean Scott, it didn’t.

* * *

SCOTT 

The first thing Isaac said when he showed up at Scott’s house that night was, “Derek’s alive.” 

Actually, it was the first thing Isaac had said to him in a few days since Scott had spent the night Derek disappeared with Stiles. He didn’t even know where Isaac had spent that night or the next. Scott wasn’t even sure Isaac had been going to school--Isaac certainly hadn’t been going to _class_ anyway--and frankly, with everything going on, Scott wasn’t sure he could blame him.

“What? That’s great!” After fearing the worst for two days, hearing that Derek wasn’t dead felt like a huge weight lifting off Scott’s chest. He knew how bothered Isaac had been, too, which was why Scott was surprised that Isaac didn’t seem to share his enthusiasm. “Isn’t it?”

“Of course,” Isaac said quickly. “It’s just, uh… Derek...”

Derek hadn’t taken Isaac back, Scott realized. Otherwise Isaac wouldn’t be there, standing in Scott’s bedroom. Derek was alive and Isaac was Derek’s beta; Isaac _should_ be with Derek. 

Scott was surprised to suddenly find that, even after such a short time, he had gotten used to Isaac being around. He didn’t like the idea that as soon as everything with the alphas was settled, Isaac might not be at his house as much. He would probably go back to living with Derek once the threat was gone and Derek stopped pushing his betas away.

“He probably just... needs time to recover and doesn’t want you to feel obligated to take care of him or something.” Even to Scott’s ears, his defense of Derek sounded weak, but he didn’t know what else to say.

“Isn’t that the whole point of having betas?” Isaac rubbed the back of his neck, a pained look on his face. “Like, what good am I if he doesn’t want me around?” 

“Hey,” said Scott, putting his hand on Isaac’s arm. “He’s just trying to protect you.”

Isaac rolled his eyes, but didn’t pull away from Scott.

“But I’m glad you’re here,” said Scott. Isaac’s eyes flickered to meet his, then away again. “I think healers are the ones being taken right now. I could really use your help protecting my mom.”

Isaac seemed to perk up a bit at that. His gaze was steady when he looked back at Scott this time and said, “What do you need me to do?”

* * *

ISAAC 

Isaac realized he had, in fact, been on watch last. He remembered listening to Scott’s soft snores, watching his eyelids flutter under the influence of some dream, feeling Scott’s leg twitch against his. They were there to watch over Melissa, but Isaac couldn’t take his eyes off Scott. He didn’t remember falling asleep against the dresser--a position he’d chosen especially because he thought it would be uncomfortable enough to keep him awake. Clearly it hadn’t been, because before he knew it, it was morning and Melissa was waking them up--luckily for them she was more amused than annoyed--and sending them off to school.

Isaac apologized profusely to Scott for falling asleep, but seeing as nothing had happened, Scott just laughed it off and said his mom was probably right and they were overreacting. 

And Isaac could tell Scott meant it.

That was probably the biggest difference between Scott and Derek. Derek didn’t care about intentions. He cared about results. Derek had once broken Isaac’s arm because Isaac had asked for a chance to heal, and Derek wanted him to be stronger. Scott shrugged off Isaac falling asleep on guard duty because he knew Isaac hadn’t meant to do it.

Somehow, Scott actually made Isaac want to be better, try harder.

Realizing that made Isaac finally admit something that he’d been thinking for a while now: his pack allegiance might be shifting.

He still cared about Derek and his pack and would do anything he could to help them, but Scott… Isaac couldn’t help but think that Scott would make a better alpha than Derek. At least, a better alpha for Isaac. He was kind and supportive where Derek was often harsh and domineering. He had welcomed Isaac when Derek had rejected him.

It wasn’t Derek’s fault. Isaac firmly believed that. Derek had given Isaac the Bite--something that really was a gift to Isaac--and a place to stay for a while. It had been difficult and painful being Derek’s beta, but it was still better than Isaac’s life had been in a long time. Derek had given Isaac a family who cared about him. Isaac wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Still, even though Scott’s eyes might not have been red, Isaac’s wolf definitely responded to Scott’s authority. Which meant that now Isaac wasn’t only betraying Derek as a friend; Isaac might’ve been betraying his _alpha_ , which was something Isaac absolutely couldn’t do. He wasn’t like Jackson. Isaac was loyal to his pack, to his alpha.

As soon as they got to school that morning, Isaac went off in search of Boyd. It was time to go back home, whether Derek wanted them to or not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello readers! Trinity is a three-part companion piece to Divided Loyalties that I wrote with Savannah_Clover. She and I have just finished our main project, which is a long Jackson/Isaac fic called The Strength of the Wolf. It can be found here. There's also a three-part side series to be read along with the final few chapters called The Strength of the Wolf: Star-Crossed (it's posted as a "series" with the main fic like this one is, so it should be easy to find).
> 
> Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 of Trinity, which will be posted with or soon after the final two chapters of Divided Loyalties!


	2. Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DIVIDED LOYALTIES: TRINITY

PART II

ALLISON

Allison hadn’t even heard about what had happened at the loft until it was too late.

Too late to help, too late to change what had happened, to Boyd, to Stiles… Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered if she had been there, but at least she wouldn’t have been left with the now familiar feeling of being completely useless.

Scott had called her right after it had happened. Allison had been furious that they hadn’t included her in their plan, but understood why she shouldn’t go to the loft to help. She knew that Scott needed to be there for Stiles, and Isaac and the other members of the Hale pack would need to grieve Boyd’s loss. She would’ve just been in the way (she knew it, even if Scott would never have said it).

So when Scott called her again the next day, Allison lept at the chance to do something, _anything_.

Scott opened his front door before Allison could even knock, immediately wrapping himself around her in a much needed hug and burying his face in her hair. She felt him trying not to squeeze her too tightly, trying not to injure her with werewolf strength, so she pressed herself closer to him and squeezed him as hard as she could instead. They stayed that way for a long minute until Scott gently pulled away.

“Isaac...” Scott started, but words seemed to fail him.

Allison nodded. “What can I do?”

Scott had told her on the phone that he’d convinced Isaac to come home with him from the loft, but was having trouble keeping Isaac there. Allison didn’t know how she would be able to persuade Isaac to stay if Scott couldn’t, but she was more than willing to try. The last thing Isaac needed right now was to be alone.

Isaac was sitting in the middle of Scott’s couch. He was hunched in on himself, elbows braced on his knees with his hands clasped together so tight his knuckles were going white, not really moving or looking at anything. He was so _tense_. It took Allison a moment to figure out what he reminded her of: a cornered animal, pretending to be trapped but ready to flee at the first opportunity. He didn’t want to be at Scott’s house. He wanted to run.

Scott had clearly recognized that, and didn’t know what to do about it. So it was Allison’s job now to somehow convince a traumatized, deeply grieving werewolf that he should stay with people who couldn’t understand what he was going through.

“Isaac?” Allison said tentatively, slowly approaching the couch so Isaac had plenty of time to see her coming.

Unsurprisingly, Isaac said nothing.

“Is it okay if I sit here?” She gestured to the space on the couch next to him.

Isaac didn’t look up at her, but he shrugged in a way that Allison took to mean, ‘If you want.’

Allison sat down next to Isaac, careful to leave a few inches of space between herself and him. She didn’t know whether he would want to be touched right now. She remembered Scott mentioning something about animals taking comfort from physical contact (which was where werewolves’ ability to take pain away came from), and she knew that real wolves comforted each other that way when they were injured, but that didn’t mean that Isaac would be okay with her trying to do that for him.

“Listen, um.” Allison pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. The logical part of her knew that this was a defense mechanism; she was trying to protect herself from something she didn’t want to confront, namely some very bad memories.

“I…” She took a deep breath and let it out. “I’m not going to tell you that I know how you feel. Losing someone, it’s… It’s different for everybody.”

 _Different_. Allison wouldn’t say it out loud, but honestly, Isaac was handling his ‘losing someone’ situation a lot better than Allison had. She’d gone off the rails after her mom had, well… In any case, Allison had ended up hurting a lot of people (Isaac included) because of how badly she had been hurting inside. She was still damaged from it, in a way. So if Isaac was feeling even a fraction of that…

“Losing,” Isaac echoed, voice soft and hollow. “That’s not what happened.”

Allison winced. Isaac was right: Allison shouldn’t have used such an empty, manicured way of describing death, especially not with someone as blunt as Isaac. For better or worse, Isaac never tried to soften hard truths.

“I know,” said Allison. “He was…” She squared her jaw, determined to state the truth plainly out of respect for Isaac, and for Boyd. “The alpha pack murdered him.”

Isaac lifted his head and looked at her. His blue eyes were piercing, and Allison couldn’t help but notice, as inappropriate as it was (especially given the circumstances), how stunningly beautiful they were.

Then he gave her a small, sad nod and relaxed back against the couch, and Allison knew that he wasn’t going anywhere. At least, not for the moment. She relaxed beside him and tried to smile reassuringly, but she was pretty sure it came across more like a wince. Still, his eyes didn’t look quite so sad anymore and his body language seemed to convey that he was okay with her staying close to him--that maybe he might _want_ her to stay close. Allison glanced over to where Scott was hovering unobtrusively in the doorway and tipped her head slightly towards the couch. Scott took the hint immediately and came to sit down on Isaac’s other side.

Sometimes, to be there for someone, all you really needed to do was _be there_.

* * *

ISAAC 

It was so different, sitting there with Scott and Allison, instead of Derek and Cora and Jackson. Isaac’s connection to his pack was primal, profound. He could physically feel his own grief reflected in them. No one could comfort Isaac like Derek or Cora--or even _Jackson_ \--had done, because nobody except them could come close to understanding what he was feeling. Isaac had needed that. He’d needed to break down, clinging to his alpha. He’d needed to sleep safely in his packmate’s arms. He’d needed Derek and Cora to see him through the first brutal, devastating shock of pain and loss.

But now that the shock had passed and the unrelenting ache of grief had set in, he didn’t know if being with them would help. He hadn’t thought being with _anyone_ would help. But Scott and Allison, even though they couldn’t feel what Isaac was going through like his pack could, were trying to comfort him anyway. In some ways, that made it easier: Isaac only needed to feel his own pain when he wasn’t with his pack. That thought caused a twinge of guilt, but maybe, he reasoned, the rest of his pack felt the same way. Why else would Derek have left? And Jackson had gone home, too. Maybe it was better for them all to be separate for a little while. Spend some time alone.

Which was what Isaac had planned on doing after Derek and Jackson had left. After all, Cora had always been closer to Boyd than Isaac, and lately much closer to Jackson than either of them, so staying in the loft alone with her when Derek had forbade Isaac from living there anymore had never been a possibility. But then Scott had started to leave and asked if Isaac was coming with him and Isaac had followed before he could think of a reason not to. Except that Isaac didn’t _want_ to be alone. Alone had never worked out well for him in the past; why would it be different now?

When Derek had thrown him out, Isaac had gone to Scott rather than be alone. And from the way Allison and Scott were trying to convince him to stay now, it didn’t seem like they wanted him to be alone, either.

Alone was dangerous. Well, groups were dangerous, too. It wasn’t like ‘safety in numbers’ had ever worked out very well for them...

“How are we supposed to fight the alphas?” Isaac asked suddenly. “Every time we fight them, we lose. Someone gets hurt or killed and nothing we do makes a difference.”

Isaac could feel Allison and Scott looking at each other. Isaac hadn’t really expected them to have an answer, but after saying it out loud, Isaac found that he had still been hoping they might.

When Isaac had found out that Derek hadn’t been killed by the Alpha Pack, he’d expected things to go back to how they’d been before; he’d thought that he’d keep living at the loft with Derek and Cora (and Boyd and Jackson when they were around). But Derek had told Isaac in no uncertain terms that he still wasn’t welcome back. So Isaac had gone back to Scott.

Some beta Isaac was.

“He’s just gonna keep pushing me away,” Isaac said to no one in particular. “I thought he was overreacting. But he was right. Boyd and I went back to try to help, and… and look what happened. We should’ve stayed away.”

Scott’s hand settled on his shoulder reassuringly. “Isaac--” he started, but Isaac cut him off.

“They’re my _pack_ ,” Isaac insisted, looking up. He needed Scott to understand. “Derek and Cora. Hell, even Jackson. I can’t just… I’m supposed to help.”

“We’re _all_ going to help,” said Scott. “Okay? I’m not going to let anyone else get hurt.”

Isaac held Scott’s gaze for as long as he could, clinging to the genuine concern he saw there like a lifeline. Finally, it became too much and Isaac had to look away, but he put his hand over Scott’s, keeping it pressed to his shoulder. Scott’s grip tightened as a clear sign of support.

“Are you hungry?” Allison asked him after the three of them had been sitting together in silence for several minutes.

Isaac shook his head. He didn’t think he’d ever be hungry again. In the back of his mind he was aware that he’d felt this way before: first because of his mom, then Camden. Hell, even his dad… But it was amazing how much pain a person could take and somehow still come out on the other side craving a burrito with sour cream, extra pico, hold the guac.

Leave it to Isaac to find himself a second brother to get killed in a war.

“That’s okay,” Allison said gently. “There’s food if you feel like it later.”

“Thanks,” Isaac murmured. His voice sounded far away to his own ears.

It was all kind of (very) hard to process. This was the same girl who had almost stabbed Isaac to death. The same one he’d nearly ripped to shreds. Yet here she was with her soft voice and sympathetic eyes, acting like nothing was more important to her right now than helping Isaac.

How had this happened? Was it even really happening?

The skin of her arm was warm against his. Strong archer’s muscles relaxed. When had she moved so close? Legs tucked up against her body, one sock-covered foot slid under his knee. Her hair tickled his cheek when she laid her head on his shoulder. She smelled good. Isaac had no right to be so aware of that. Especially not now.

Scott’s hand pulled away from Isaac’s shoulder, but before he could do more than notice the absence, Scott’s arm settled across the back of Isaac’s shoulders as a heavy, grounding weight. Isaac could feel Scott’s fingers settle in Allison’s hair. Isaac was very aware of being in the middle of something intimate. It was strange and intimidating and fragile. Allison took Isaac’s hand in hers. Small but strong. She laced long, slender fingers with his. Why did they care so much about him? What had he done to deserve it?

“You don’t have to do this,” he heard himself say.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Scott. “We want to.”

“We do,” Allison affirmed. She lifted her head and smoothed Isaac’s bangs back from his forehead with her free hand. Her eyes were so sincere and soulful it almost hurt Isaac to look at them.

After that, Scott and Allison worked on distracting Isaac--talking about school and Melissa’s work at the hospital and other ‘normal’ things--as if he couldn’t tell that was what they were doing. Scott tried to get Isaac to talk about lacrosse strategy at one point, but Isaac still felt too numb to contribute much to the conversation.

It was late when Isaac started nodding off, numbness subsiding into a thick exhaustion. Breath by breath, he’d finally relaxed against Scott and Allison. He came out of it quickly enough though when he heard Allison ask what time Scott’s mom was getting home. Melissa was cool about a lot of things, but she didn’t let Allison sleep over--not like that stopped Scott and Allison--so if Melissa was coming home soon, Allison would have to leave.

Isaac didn’t want her to leave. When she left, whatever _this_ was would end and Isaac didn’t want that.

“She’s working all night,” Scott said quietly in response, “if you want to stay.”

“Of course I do,” she said quickly.

Isaac knew that he should say something. That he should tell them to get some sleep, to not worry about him, that he would be fine on the couch. After the first night that Isaac had slept on Scott’s bedroom floor, Scott had insisted on making up the couch for Isaac (because Isaac still refused to take Scott’s bed). It wasn’t really necessary, since Isaac could pretty much sleep anywhere by this point, but trying to explain that to Scott was impossible.

Now he figured Scott and Allison were probably just waiting for him to be okay so they could go upstairs, but trying to make himself say the words was harder than he thought it would be. They’d already done so much for him, though. He couldn’t ask them stay with him any longer.

“You guys should go to bed. It’s late,” Isaac finally managed.

Isaac felt Scott and Allison exchange another look.

“Really, guys, I’m fine,” he said with a sigh, before remembering that Scott would be able to hear the lie in his heartbeat if he was listening, which, judging by the frown tugging at Scott’s lips, he had been. Hell, this close, Scott had most likely _felt_ it. But Isaac was probably _never_ going to be okay. In fact, it had been so long since Isaac had been okay, he wasn’t even sure if he knew what okay felt like anymore. So why drag anyone else down with him?

“I was actually thinking, maybe we’d all just stay down here?” Scott’s suggestion sounded more like a question, like he was trying to see if Isaac and Allison would be okay with that.

Allison tilted her head a bit to the side. “Scott, I don’t think the couch is going to be very comfortable for three people to sleep on.”

“I can grab extra blankets, you and I could sleep on the floor and Isaac could take the couch.”

“I’m not going to make you guys sleep on the floor,” Isaac objected.

“Why don’t we just use your bed?” Allison asked Scott. “It’s probably big enough for all of us.”

“I’m fine, _really_ ,” Isaac tried again, but Scott seemed to have made up his mind.

“Up to you, Isaac. Find out if my bed is big enough for three of us or make me and Allison sleep on the floor down here? Either way, we’re not leaving you alone.”

As if Scott didn’t already know that there was literally no way Isaac would make someone else sleep on the floor so that he could be more comfortable. Isaac shrugged, which made Scott smile and stand up. Allison quickly followed his example.

“Come on,” Allison tugged gently at Isaac’s arm. Her forehead had little concerned crinkles that Isaac couldn’t help but find adorable. Maybe that was what finally persuaded him to let Allison pull him to his feet and lead him up the stairs.

Isaac’s limbs were heavy, like his grief was weighing him down. He blamed that for the fact that Allison seemed to have an easy time getting him to lie down on Scott’s bed. He was about to protest again that he’d be okay on the floor or on the couch, but she crawled in with him, lying down in the middle of the bed next to him, leaving room for Scott on her other side.

It was such an unexpected situation that Isaac wasn’t entirely sure it was real. But then, none of what had happened in the past couple of days seemed real. At least if he were dreaming, he preferred that it be of something like this--unbelievable and strange as it was--than of more pain and death.

Allison tugged gently at Isaac’s shoulder until he turned onto his side to face her. There was that soulful look in her dark eyes again: the one that was so hard to look at. So he closed his eyes.

She shifted to lie down on her back, but her entire right side was still pressed against Isaac. A consistent, grounding contact. The wolf in him craved that comfort more than the wary teenage boy in him protested that he didn’t have a right to be this close to another guy’s girlfriend (especially since that other guy had just gotten in bed on her other side). It was only a few moments before Isaac gave in and let the wolf take comfort from Allison’s warmth and nearness. She wasn’t a wolf, but it didn’t matter. She knew he was in pain, and she wanted to help.

* * *

SCOTT 

Scott wondered if maybe he should feel awkward or jealous that his girlfriend was in bed with another guy, him pressed up close to her body like that. But he just didn’t. Hadn’t Cora done the exact same thing with Isaac back at Derek’s? Allison wasn’t a wolf and she wasn’t Isaac’s pack, but she was kind of like Scott’s pack, right? She understood werewolves. And Isaac was hurting. Scott could feel the pain deep in his bones--a kind of pain that Scott couldn’t take away, no matter how much he wanted to.

Allison was compassionate and kind, and Scott loved that about her. It was part of what had made him fall in love with her in the first place, and why he had been so desperate to bring her back out from under Gerard’s influence. She was strong and brave, but she wasn’t cruel. Not at her core. Of all the horrible things Gerard had done, Scott hated him most for teaching Allison cruelty. It was nice to see her like this now, helping Isaac. Becoming friends with someone she had hurt because of Gerard. Building trust. It warmed Scott’s heart to see two people he cared about begin to care about each other. What would be the point in being jealous of that?

The slow pace of his heartbeat and breathing told Scott that Isaac had fallen asleep. His arm was draped over Allison’s waist, his face hidden in her hair. Since she was on her back, Allison could look at Scott. She gave him a small, kind of sad smile. After all, it didn’t take werewolf senses to know when someone was in pain. Scott pressed his palm to Allison’s cheek and kissed her lips, soft and chaste. Then he kissed her forehead and settled his head on the pillow next to hers. Soon, she was asleep, too.

Scott lay awake for a while, guarding the girl he loved and the beta wolf who needed a pack’s protection. He watched their serene faces, listened to them breathe. His habit of putting his arm around Allison while they slept led to his hand settling on Isaac’s arm. And it didn’t feel weird. He traced his thumb in slow patterns over Isaac’s skin, feeling its warmth beneath his fingertips, finding the subtle outlines of his muscles. And it was… nice. In the middle of all of the pain and fear and uncertainty, in that moment Scott felt a rare sense of peace.

His hand only stilled when he joined them in sleep.

* * *

ALLISON 

It was still early when Allison blinked awake, hunter instincts sharp and alert. She caught herself reaching for the knives she kept under her pillows before she remembered that these weren’t her pillows. They were Scott’s.

She rarely had trouble sleeping at Scott’s. Despite the fact that he was a werewolf (or maybe because of it), most days being with him was the only time she felt truly safe. She knew if there was any danger, he would’ve sensed it and been awake too, but he was still sound asleep beside her, drooling against her shoulder in a way that should have been disgusting but was surprisingly endearing.

Allison shifted onto her side so that she could be his little spoon, something they’d done so often, Scott didn’t even need to wake up to mold himself perfectly around her. But tonight something felt off. Not wrong or bad, exactly, but Allison had the definite feeling that something was missing.

Isaac.

She reached out in the dark, but only felt the heat from where he had been. It was likely his leaving that had woken her.

Allison hadn’t needed to be a werewolf to feel his pain yesterday, but she almost wished she was one so she could’ve helped take some of it away. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered, though; maybe it was only physical pain that could be taken like that. This sort of pain ran deeper. Psychological pain didn’t leave physical scars, which made it even more dangerous: something she had only just recently begun to realize.

What had happened to her mom, to her aunt, what she had almost let Gerard make her... those were the things that made Allison wake in the middle of the night, cold and nauseated.

She found Isaac lying on the couch. Her eyes were already adjusted to the dark enough that she could see him curled up on it. Judging by the sound of his breathing, she was pretty sure he was awake, but just in case, she whispered:

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” Isaac murmured after a pause. His voice sounded normal, but she knew how easy that was to fake.

“Couldn’t sleep?” She slowly ventured a few steps closer.

“I just figured there wasn’t a lot of room…”

“You wouldn’t lie to me because I’m a human so I can’t tell, would you?” Allison teased.

Isaac’s silence was all the response she needed. She crossed the last few steps to the side of the couch, prompting Isaac to sit up to make room for her to sit next to him.

“It’s not good to be alone when you’re hurting,” said Allison. “Especially if you’re a werewolf.”

“Sorry,” said Isaac, though Allison couldn’t think what he’d have to be sorry for.

Allison considered reaching out, like she had done earlier, but wondered if it would be wrong without Scott there. Sure, it would just be a supportive hand on the shoulder, maybe a hug, but she was starting to realize that she wasn’t sure where the line was between being friendly with Isaac and being flirty.

Because of course she had been flirting with him the other day, showing him how to ride Ethan’s bike, not to mention that things had been well on their way to flirty before they had been locked in the janitor’s closet together.

Allison would never cheat on Scott in a million years--she loved him completely, that wasn’t even a question--but somehow, flirting with Isaac seemed like the most natural thing in the world, despite their rough history.

And he was hurting. Supporting him through the death of a friend also felt like the most natural thing in the world.

“Do you want to talk?” Allison asked after a long moment of silence between them.

Isaac shrugged. “There’s not really much to say.”

Allison supposed there wasn’t. She couldn’t think of anything anyway. Nothing that would help or wouldn’t sound trite and meaningless.

“Do you want to be alone?”

For a brief second, she thought Isaac was going to nod; his chin lifted just a fraction, like a habit or a knee-jerk reaction. Then he was shaking his head and hunching in on himself, elbows braced on his knees and head folded into his crossed arms. And just like that, Allison’s resolve to keep some distance between herself and Isaac while Scott wasn’t there crumbled.

“Hey, hey,” Allison murmured softly, pressing close and wrapping her arm around Isaac’s shoulders. Her hand found its way into his short curls and she stroked his hair and held him while he shuddered, wracked with silent sobs. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

A strange kind of humorless half-laugh came from Isaac. “Why?”

“Because I can’t help.”

That was a thought she’d been having almost constantly for weeks now. For all her skill with a bow or knives, Allison couldn’t help but feel like she was becoming increasingly useless. She had chased off the alpha pack in the abandoned mall, but not before most of Derek’s pack and Scott had been injured, and Derek had nearly died. She hadn’t been there when Boyd had been killed and Stiles had been bitten, because she had to lie to her dad in order to be a hunter at all. Everything was just a huge mess, and Allison felt like she couldn’t do anything to make it better. People were getting hurt and dying and she couldn’t help stop it. She couldn’t--

Isaac looked up at her and shook his head like she’d just said something absolutely ridiculous. “What do you call this?”

Allison felt the corner of her lips tug up in a smile at the tone of his voice. If she’d had better night vision, she was pretty sure she would’ve seen him roll his eyes.

He saved her from having to respond. “Didn’t we already have our little ‘I’m sorry, you’re sorry, we’re all sorry’ session the other day?”

An involuntary laugh escaped Allison. “You started it.”

There was a tense pause during which they both seemed to realize how intimate their positions were, and Allison became painfully aware of how good it felt to hold Isaac like this, and how completely inappropriate it was to feel that way about someone who wasn’t her boyfriend, who she loved very much.

“Come on.” Allison got up from the couch and took Isaac’s hand in hers, tugging gently. “It’s warmer with you there. You wouldn’t want my right side to be cold, would you?”

“Never,” said Isaac. Allison was infinitely grateful that the dark (hopefully) hid her flushed cheeks, because somehow Isaac had managed to make that one word sound flirty, and even holding his hand was starting to give Allison stomach butterflies, and they needed to get back upstairs with Scott as soon as possible.

When they got back into bed, Allison pressed as close to Scott as she could. He stirred from sleep long enough to get his arm around her and pull her back against his chest so that she was his little spoon again. Allison could see Isaac watching her in the dark from where he was lying near the edge of the bed. She gave him a shy smile, but found that she wasn’t brave (or brazen) enough to reach out for him now. Just knowing that Isaac could hear how her heart was racing was making her self-conscious already.

Allison shut her eyes, focused on the feeling of Scott’s arms around her, and tried not to think too hard about the fact that having Isaac there with them felt _right_.

Saturday morning came too quickly and Allison had to leave before Scott’s mom got home.

Allison had told her dad that she was spending the night with Lydia, so he didn’t say anything when she got home, aside from asking her if she’d had fun. She lied and made up some story about watching movies all night and eating junk food.

Which made it slightly awkward when Lydia showed up a few hours later to work on homework (with everything going on with the alpha pack, Scott and Lydia were the only ones still managing to stay on top of their schoolwork). But Lydia played along with Allison’s lie easily and they escaped to Allison’s room before her dad could ask too many questions.

Sitting on her bed, staring at Economics homework that she barely understood on a good day let alone while she was distracted, Allison tried not to think about what had happened the night before. She’d slept in the same bed as Scott _and_ Isaac. Should she feel weird about that? Sleeping in a bed with her boyfriend and some other guy?

By now Allison had to admit to herself that Isaac wasn’t just any other guy, either. There was something between them that she didn’t really want to think about, but couldn’t seem to stop.

But whatever she might be feeling or thinking about Isaac, nothing had changed how she felt about Scott. She was in love with her boyfriend, so why was she thinking that she might be developing feelings for Isaac?

“Lydia, have you ever…?” The words were out of Allison’s mouth before she realized she wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk about what she was thinking.

Lydia looked at Allison expectantly, waiting for her to finish the question.

“I… Nevermind,” Allison said quickly, turning away when she felt her face flush.

“Allison, you have one female friend. If you can’t tell me what’s been going on with you lately, who can you tell?”

Allison stared at her. “What do you mean ‘what’s been going on with me lately’?”

Lydia scoffed. “Please, Allison, give me _some_ credit. Being able to sniff out other people’s secrets is an important life skill that I have spent a _lot_ of time perfecting.”

“You think I’m keeping a secret?” Allison tried to keep her tone innocent, but had a feeling that she was failing miserably.

“Well, now you’re just embarrassing both of us.” Lydia flopped down on the bed next to Allison and gave her a level stare. “I promise you’ll feel better if you say it out loud.”

“I can’t,” Allison said miserably. “I’m a horrible person for even _thinking_ it.”

Lydia punctuated her eye-roll with an exasperated sigh.

“Allison. Do you honestly believe that you’re the first girl to ever be interested in two guys at the same time?”

Allison blanched. “I-- You-- What?”

“Isaac’s hot,” Lydia said matter-of-factly. “At least, he is now that he’s gotten through his invisible-loser and overcompensating-badass phases. Why should you feel bad about noticing?”

“Because I love Scott,” said Allison. “I love him more than anything. I don’t need anyone else. I don’t want--”

“Except you _do_ want someone else,” said Lydia. She put her hand on Allison’s shoulder and made her meet her eyes. “And that’s okay. Scott’s a good guy. One of the few really good guys in this town, actually. If your relationship is as strong as I think it is, you’ll be fine.”

“But what if--”

“If he gets all pissed off and possessive because you wanted to be honest with him, then you’d rather find out now, right?”

Allison chewed on her lower lip anxiously. “I guess so.”

“Besides,” said Lydia, “Isaac is so obviously into you.”

“He is?” Allison’s face grew hot. “I mean, I know he’s been nicer to me lately, but--”

“Both of you,” Lydia clarified.

Allison was struck speechless. Was Lydia really saying…? No, it couldn’t be true. ...Could it?

Lydia rolled her eyes again. “Seriously? I have never met so many oblivious people in my life. If Isaac wasn’t claustrophobic I’d lock the three of you in a room together as a sociology experiment.”

When Allison didn’t respond, Lydia sighed and put an arm around her shoulder. “Whatever happens, you have nothing to feel guilty about. All right? Tell Scott and go from there. I promise it’s going to be okay.”

Not trusting herself to speak, Allison nodded her thanks to Lydia and dropped her head onto her best friend’s shoulder. Allison hadn’t realized how worked up she’d gotten emotionally over this until she was sniffling back tears.

“Thanks, Lydia,” she said softly.

“You’re welcome,” said Lydia. “I know how you can pay me for my brilliant advice, by the way.”

Allison lifted her head, curious. “How?”

“If anything ever happens with Isaac, you are totally telling me everything.”

And Allison had thought her blushing couldn’t get any worse.

* * *

ISAAC 

In a long line of terrible ideas they’d had recently, Scott and Allison had decided to go talk to her psychopathic grandfather. You know, the guy who had tried to get Scott to make Derek bite him by using Allison as a bargaining chip, not to mention turning Allison against Scott and the rest of the werewolves (Isaac included), leading to a lot of arrow-shooting and knife-stabbing and stuff.

Isaac didn’t leave Scott’s bed the entire time they were gone. It smelled strongly of Scott and faintly of Allison. Isaac was glad, in some kind of weird, selfish way, that now it would smell a bit like himself, too. At least for a little while. Like he belonged there.

Isaac thought it might be nice to feel like he belonged somewhere.

He didn’t have a home, he couldn’t go back to Derek’s, he didn’t _want_ to go to school the next day… He wanted to stay in Scott’s bed and sleep and wake up to find out that everything had just been one long, messed-up dream. Well, maybe not _everything_. Just the stuff that hadn’t involved Scott’s bed. It would be okay if that part was real. Even though it was the part that was hardest for Isaac to believe.

It wasn’t that late when Scott got back, but he seemed tired, frustrated. Isaac wasn’t surprised after everything that had been going on.

“Sorry,” Isaac said as he moved to get up and let Scott have his bed back.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Scott. He put his hand on Isaac’s shoulder, signaling that he should stay. “Stiles sleeps in my bed all the time.”

Isaac was almost disappointed when Scott moved his hand away. He could sense the anxiety in Scott and suddenly felt a pang of guilt. Scott was worried about Stiles. How could he not be? And here Isaac was, moping and eating up Scott’s and Allison’s attention, when there were other people who needed it more than he did.

Isaac laid back down on the bed, facing Scott. And then quickly turned away when he realized Scott was changing clothes. He wasn’t really sure why; it wasn’t like Isaac hadn’t seen Scott change in the locker room before. Maybe it was because they were in Scott’s bedroom that it suddenly seemed so much more personal. Things always seemed more personal in bedrooms.

“I’m sorry about Stiles,” Isaac said abruptly, still looking away.

“Don’t be,” said Scott. “From what I hear, you tried to stop him.”

“It was that friggin’ baseball bat. He got away from me.” Isaac tried to keep the irritation he was still feeling about Stiles’ recklessness out of his voice. He felt bad for Stiles. He really did. But seriously, that dude had a death wish.

Scott crossed back into Isaac’s field of vision, fully dressed. “Thanks for trying anyway.”

Isaac paused before speaking again, trying to think of the right response. ‘You’re welcome’ or ‘No problem’ didn’t seem appropriate.

“Is he okay?” he asked finally.

“Yeah, all things considered, I guess.” Scott sighed deeply. “He just... I know he didn’t want this, so it just... It just sucks.” Scott fell back onto the bed beside Isaac.

“Yeah,” said Isaac, frowning. He desperately wished he had something helpful to say. They were both quiet for a while before Isaac rolled over to look at Scott and said, “Maybe he’ll be your beta. He’s kind of in your pack already anyway, right?”

Scott had told Isaac about the whole True Alpha thing the day before. Isaac had been surprised that that could happen, but if it could happen to anyone, it made sense that it would be Scott. Scott was a good leader and would make a good alpha. Scott wasn’t a killer, though, which was what he would’ve had to become if he had ever wanted to be an alpha the old-fashioned way. Of course, if Scott really was becoming an alpha, that made things even more complicated when it came to Isaac’s loyalty to Derek...

“Maybe,” said Scott. “I don’t know how this stuff works. I’m not the one who bit him. Besides, I’m not even sure if I’m a real alpha. Not yet, anyway.”

“We could ask Deaton or something.”

“Good idea,” said Scott, giving Isaac a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. The pain behind his eyes made Isaac’s heart ache. Of all people, Scott was the one who deserved to suffer like this the least. Scott was too good, too caring, and it would probably cause him a lot of unnecessary pain during his life.

But what had trying to remain apathetic ever gotten Isaac? Nothing. So maybe it was time to try a different way.

Isaac reached out and covered Scott’s hand with his. He’d just meant it to be comforting, but when he felt the pain thrumming under Scott’s skin, he couldn’t help but take some.

Scott tried to pull away when he realized what Isaac was doing, but Isaac held on.

“Did you take that sick fuck’s pain?” Isaac asked, a spark of anger flaring in him. That was the only explanation; after all, Scott and Allison had gone to see Gerard, and if they were trying to get something from him, what else did they have to bargain with?

“Isaac, it’s fine.”

“No, it’s not,” said Isaac. Black lines were creeping up his arm now. “You shouldn’t have--”

“We needed information,” Scott insisted, though his tone was much calmer than Isaac’s.

“Like you can trust a word out of that twisted old hunter’s mouth.”

“I don’t trust him,” Scott said earnestly, “but we needed to hear what we were up against. Gerard knew about Deucalion. I can take a little pain for that.”

Scott turned his hand over in Isaac’s, squeezing it gently before pulling his own hand back quickly, like he hadn’t realized what he was doing and felt weird about it. Like Isaac was a hot stove or a candle or something like that and Scott had touched him by accident.

Isaac pulled his own hand back and looked away self-consciously. God, now he had that stupid swoopy middle-school-crush feeling in his stomach from Scott holding his hand, and Scott had probably sensed how Isaac’s pulse had sped up, and this was basically just becoming one big mortifying nightmare.

Thankfully, Scott’s phone chose that moment to go off. As Scott rolled off the bed to fish his phone out of the pocket of his jeans, Isaac took a few deep, silent breaths to bring his heart rate back to a more normal pace.

“It’s Stiles,” Scott said a few seconds later, while typing out a quick response to the text.

Isaac sat up quickly. “Is everything okay?”

Scott’s phone buzzed twice more in quick succession.

“Yeah...”

The way Scott’s voice trailed off while he read the messages didn’t exactly reassure Isaac.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” said Scott, more confidently. “Stiles wants me to come over. Will you be okay on your own tonight?”

“I’ve been here for a while now,” Isaac said wryly. “I think I can handle it.”

“If you need anything--”

“I’ll bug your mom, I got it. Go take care of your friend.”

It only took Scott a minute to respond to the texts before getting changed again and grabbing his keys.

“I’ll be back later,” he said, “but seriously, use my bed. It’s more comfortable than the floor, right?”

“It’s not as comfortable alone,” Isaac said without thinking. He didn’t really realize what he’d said until he saw the look on Scott’s face, which made Isaac’s cheeks burn.

“Well…” Scott’s eyes darted away from Isaac’s. “You should, um. You should still sleep there.”

Scott gave Isaac a little goodbye nod and headed for the door. Oh, God. The awkwardness Isaac had caused was now physically painful. Isaac searched his mind frantically for something that could distract from his stupid unintentionally flirty comment so Scott wouldn’t leave thinking about that.

“Scott.”

Scott turned around in the doorway. “Yeah?”

“You should’ve killed him.” Isaac said, half-heartedly. Then he clarified, “Gerard.”

Scott laughed. “Isaac, you can’t just kill everyone you don’t like.”

“I can try,” Isaac said, then smirked. Subject change accomplished.

About a half hour after Scott left, Scott sent Isaac a text saying that he was staying over at Stiles’ house. Isaac wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad sign, but he didn’t want to be nosy, so he just acknowledged the text and said good night.

* * *

ALLISON 

They were studying at Scott’s, some of them with more focus than others.

Allison and Scott had books spread around them on the bed while Isaac was set up at Scott’s desk. In fact, Scott was the only one who was actually getting anything done; Isaac was spinning around in the desk chair and Allison was watching him in what she hoped was a covert manner.

She was trying to determine how much of Isaac’s cavalier attitude was normal and how much was him trying to pretend the events of the last few days hadn’t happened.

“Well, not like this isn’t fun and all,” Isaac said, suddenly standing up, “but I’m going to take a shower.”

Despite his casual stretch--an action that lifted his shirt and exposed a pale line of stomach and hipbone just above his jeans, which made Allison glance away quickly--as he got up to grab some clean clothes from his bag, and his slow saunter out of the room, Allison couldn’t help feel like Isaac was retreating from them.

She wasn’t the only one who noticed. Glancing at Scott, she realized that his eyes had followed Isaac out of the room.

Allison gaped at Scott. “Were you--?”

Scott looked back at her quickly with the big, innocent puppydog eyes that he only made when Allison caught him doing something he knew he wasn’t supposed to be doing.

“You were totally just checking Isaac out!” She couldn’t stop the grin from spreading over her face. “Weren’t you?”

“Uhhh.” Scott stalled, clearly not sure what the right answer was. “No?”

“I mean, it’s fine if you were,” said Allison, still smiling. “I guess I just thought… Have you ever been attracted to other guys?”

Scott laughed. “No. I don’t think so. I mean, I’ve pretty much only ever liked you.” Allison preened at the compliment. “What about you?”

“I’ve had other crushes,” Allison said as casually as she could manage. She didn’t think Scott would be jealous or anything, but it was hard to admit that she’d had other crushes when she secretly currently had one right now.

“Were any of them girls?”

“Nope,” said Allison, not even having to think about it. “Boys only.”

“Never practiced kissing during slumber parties or anything?” Scott teased. “Isn’t that what girls do?”

Allison could feel herself blushing. “Okay, yes.” Scott started laughing so hard she had to talk over him. “It was in ninth grade, she was a friend from school, and we kissed one time just before I moved away.”

“But it didn’t make you want to keep kissing girls?”

“Not really. I mean, it was a good kiss, I guess, but it didn’t really do anything for me.” Allison shrugged. “You?”

“Oh, I love kissing girls.” Scott grinned.

Allison nudged her shoulder against Scott’s. “You know what I mean, Scott.”

He laughed again and shook his head. “Uh, no. Never kissed any guys.”

“Then how do you know you don’t want to?” Allison tried to keep her voice teasing, but she didn’t quite succeed.

“I, uh…” Scott considered this for a moment. “I guess I don’t.”

Allison would’ve sworn her pulse sped up for a moment. She had this brief, involuntary image in her head of Scott kissing another guy (maybe one particular guy, if she were honest with herself), and she’d be lying if she said it wasn’t kind of (very) hot. If Scott noticed her reaction, though, he didn’t show it.

“But I know I like kissing you,” Scott said with a smile, before leaning in and kissing her lips thoroughly enough to make his point.

“Smooth,” Allison teased between kisses, then squeaked when Scott unexpectedly rolled them over and pinned her down on his bed so they could make out more effectively. And it was possible that they had crushed some papers and maybe a pen was digging into Allison’s leg a little bit, but she really couldn’t have cared less.

* * *

ISAAC

The water was almost scalding. Isaac’s skin turned pink under the spray as he ducked his head beneath it. Steam billowed up around him, dampening the scents that had been plaguing him while the water hammering against the porcelain of the tub drowned out the sound of their voices. For a rare few minutes, Isaac was completely alone. 

Alone with his busy head full of confusion and longing and guilt and self-loathing.

There was something seriously wrong with Isaac. It had been bad enough that he’d somehow started to kind of maybe (definitely, undeniably) feel an attraction toward a girl who had stabbed him repeatedly with knives and nearly killed him. A girl who also happened to be dating someone who was probably Isaac’s closest (living) friend. That was bad enough. But now… Now he was starting to become attached to this friend in a way that might not be entirely platonic.

Maybe it was just gratitude. Scott had always been kind to Isaac. Kindness still wasn’t very common in Isaac’s life, but it had been even rarer before Scott had become a fixture in it. Scott never got mad at Isaac, never blamed him when something went wrong. Even when Isaac had first become a werewolf and had actively fought Scott and the others, Scott had never seen Isaac as an enemy. Maybe that’s what it was. Just gratitude.

But was gratitude strong enough to make a person show up at someone’s door in the pouring rain when they had nowhere else to go, like a friggin’ romance movie? Was gratitude strong enough to make a person start to associate someone with safety, with _home_? And was it the fucked up, abused kid in Isaac that so desperately wanted a person who made him feel like that, or was it the wolf in him who had been rejected by his alpha and wanted a pack? How the hell was he supposed to know the difference?

So yeah. There was something _seriously_ wrong with him. And he had no idea what to do about it.

Isaac had thought that maybe it would get easier the longer he stayed at Scott’s house. He’d get used to the scents. He’d be less attuned to how obvious it was when Scott and Allison had been fooling around in Scott’s room, or maybe at least not notice it as much when Scott came home after being with Allison somewhere else. He wouldn’t be as painfully aware of the way they looked at each other when they thought no one was watching. The way Allison bit her lower lip sometimes when she gave Scott that deceptively shy smile that lit up the whole room. The way Scott’s heart still skipped when she did.

Maybe Isaac could’ve gotten used to all of that, except… Except then Boyd had died, and Isaac had been reduced to something numb and hollow, and Scott and Allison had given parts of themselves to help fill the emptiness in Isaac. Now it felt like there were little pieces of them inside him, and he didn’t know how to get them out.

Now Isaac longed for Allison to smile at him the way she smiled at Scott. He longed for Scott’s heart to skip like it did for her smile because of him. And he knew that neither of those things would ever happen, because Scott and Allison had each other, and even if Isaac thought he might have a chance with one of them if they broke up, he would never want to ruin something so perfect.

Basically, he was fucked.

* * *

SCOTT 

“Shower’s off,” Scott murmured: his way of warning Allison that Isaac could potentially hear what they were doing or saying now.

“Kay,” said Allison, but kissed Scott again anyway, like she couldn’t help it. They had a few more minutes before Isaac came back into the room. And it wasn’t like Isaac would care, right?

“I’m going to go grab some food. You guys want anything?”

Allison broke away from Scott, her face burning. Scott gave her a quizzical look. It wasn’t like she had a reason to feel awkward, Isaac had probably seen them kissing at school dozens of times by now. But Scott suddenly found that he felt a little awkward, too. Like they were being rude to Isaac, maybe?

Scott leaned back on the bed, away from Allison. Isaac was hovering in the doorway, looking like he wanted nothing more than to be anywhere else. “Like, the kitchen or…?”

“Well I’ve been craving chimichangas ever since _somebody_ promised me Mexican food.” Isaac smirked, but it looked forced. “I know this really great hole-in-the-wall place nearby. I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Do you want to use my bike?” Scott offered

“I’m okay walking,” said Isaac. “Thanks, though.”

“Okay, uh.” Scott grasped for words. “Cool.”

Scott’s awkwardness was not helped by the fact that he was inexplicably very aware of how Isaac looked right now. It wasn’t like his clothes were particularly provocative: just jeans and one of Scott’s larger T-shirts (Isaac had reluctantly accepted Scott’s offer of a few items of his clothing that would fit him, given that Isaac didn’t have much of a wardrobe of his own right now). Scott had seen Isaac dressed like that plenty of times since he’d come to live there.

But somehow this felt different. Far more than usual, Scott was noticing how Isaac smelled (which made no sense because Isaac used the same shampoo and body wash that Scott did), and how his hair looked when it was wet, and how his skin was flushed from the hot water. Scott’s mind flashed back to fifteen minutes ago, when Isaac had stretched and temporarily bared a strip of skin near his hip, where the jeans he’d been wearing hung low.

His own words echoed in Scott’s mind: _Never kissed any guys._ They were quickly followed by Allison’s: _Then how do you know you don’t want to?_

Crap. Like Scott’s life wasn’t complicated enough already.

Isaac grabbed his phone and wallet from the top of Scott’s dresser (the closest Scott had come to getting Isaac to make himself at home) and left, flashing a quick smile in their direction, if not actually at Scott or Allison.

Scott frowned as he heard the front door close. He felt bad that they had made Isaac feel like he had to take off for a while. Or maybe Isaac just wanted space.

Either way, he could tell Allison was thinking the same thing he was. She definitely looked like she was feeling a little guilty. Actually, she looked like she was feeling _really_ guilty, or something similar. Even without being able to hear her heartbeat or sense her anxiety, he could see it in her eyes.

“Are you okay, Allison?” he asked tentatively.

“I… I need to tell you something.” Her heart was pounding now.

Scott frowned, starting to worry. “What is it?”

Allison bit her lip and tugged at a loose thread in Scott’s comforter. “I’m kind of worried you’ll hate me if I tell you.”

“Allison, I could never hate you. I promise.” Scott wanted to reach out, to reassure her somehow. He settled for offering her his hands, which she took without hesitation.

“Okay.” Allison took a deep, shaky breath and pushed it out. “I think I _like_ Isaac.”

The words came out in a rush, as did the next ones: “I’m so sorry, Scott. I don’t even really get it, because I am still totally and completely in love with you, and I would never do anything to hurt you, and it probably doesn’t mean anything but I, I-I just want to be honest with you. I want to always be honest with you because I love you _so much_.”

Everything Allison said took longer to register than it should’ve. She liked Isaac? Like… _Like_ , liked?

Allison squeezing his hands brought Scott back to the moment. She looked almost scared as she pleaded, “Say something. Please. You hate me, don’t you?”

Scott shook his head, smiling gently and squeezing her hands back. “I already told you, I could never hate you.”

Allison didn’t look completely reassured though, and after a quick, relieved smile, she resumed chewing on her lip. Clearly there was more she felt needed to be said.

“Do you think he likes you?” Scott asked hesitantly, because he wasn’t entirely sure that he actually wanted to know the answer.

“I don’t know… Yes? I think? There’s like… like this spark.” She winced guiltily. “Like with you and me. God, I’m a horrible person. Can you forgive me?”

It was a lot to process. The answers to Allison’s questions were easy: she wasn’t a horrible person, and of course he could forgive her. But her confession still bothered Scott. It wasn’t even the idea that Allison might like Isaac--this kind of stuff happened, and she hadn’t acted on it--but more like… the fact that Isaac probably liked her back. The fact that Allison and Isaac might have this connection that was completely separate from Scott.

Scott liked having Isaac around. Maybe the circumstances that had made Isaac come to stay with him had been crappy, but it felt right to have Isaac living at his house. It had also felt right when, under even crappier circumstances, Isaac had slept in Scott’s bed with him and Allison after Boyd had been killed and Stiles had been bitten. Scott remembered how it had felt to trace his fingers over the skin of Isaac’s arm, to listen to him breathe while he slept. He thought about how Isaac had held his hand and taken Gerard’s pain from him. He wondered what it would feel like to do that again, without the emotional or physical pain.

Now that he considered it, Scott realized that he had started to feel like maybe there was some kind of connection between himself and Isaac. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but if Isaac really did like Allison, he probably didn’t feel that way about Scott. Right?

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Scott said finally. “I’m glad you told me. I want us to always be honest, too.”

Allison made a sad little half-laughing sound, like the whole situation was ridiculous. “You’re too nice. Any other guy would be seriously pissed off at me right now.”

Scott shrugged. She was probably right, but he just couldn’t imagine being mad at Allison for feeling something she couldn’t help feeling.

“Guess I’m not any other guy.”

Allison gave Scott a brief, fragile smile of gratitude. “So what should I do? I could try to ignore it. I feel like maybe I encouraged him without thinking about it. I definitely flirted with him. What a stupid, selfish thing to do…”

“Stop putting yourself down. It’s okay.” Scott squeezed Allison’s hands again to try to reassure her. “And as long as we’re being honest, I… I think you’re not the only one of us who’s felt a spark with him…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Trinity_ is a three-part companion piece to _Divided Loyalties_ that I wrote with [Savannah_Clover](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Savannah_Clover). She and I have just finished our main project, which is a long Jackson/Isaac fic called _The Strength of the Wolf_. It can be found [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3703403).
> 
> Stay tuned for the third and final installment of _Trinity_ , which will be posted with the final chapter of _Divided Loyalties_!
> 
> Lenna


	3. Part III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DIVIDED LOYALTIES: TRINITY

Part III

ISAAC

It was still dark when the low, rolling tone of a cell alarm went off. It took Isaac a minute to realize that’s what was going on; he didn’t even remember where he was at first. It was much too warm and comfortable to be the couch, and he hazily became aware of several facts: 1) there was a person lying close against him, 2) the person was a girl, and 3) the girl smelled really good. _Allison_. Isaac felt his face grow hot. This was the second time now that he had woken up in Scott’s bed, with Allison sleeping between them--surreal as that thought was--but that wasn’t exactly something a person just got used to right away.

Hoping to avoid potential awkwardness, Isaac decided to pretend to still be asleep.

This plan was impeded, however, by the fact that Allison had to sit up and reach over Isaac to grab her phone. Because, well… chest. It didn’t help that, for some reason, Allison chose to get out of bed by crawling over Isaac rather than Scott, and maybe Isaac enjoyed that decision a little more than he should’ve. When she was safely standing, Isaac curled up on his side facing the edge of the bed with his eyes closed and listened sleepily to the soft sounds of Allison gathering up her stuff, going to Scott’s bathroom to change, and coming back to Scott’s side of the bed to kiss him goodbye (which Isaac tried to ignore for more than just politeness’ sake). Then her footsteps told him she was headed for the door, and Isaac expected that next he would hear it close behind her…

But no. No, she was walking back toward the bed. Had she forgotten something? Maybe she’d put her phone down after turning off the alarm? Isaac was considering opening his eyes to see if he could help when suddenly he felt a sensation he was definitely not used to and certainly had not expected: warm lips were pressed against his.

Isaac would’ve sworn his heart skipped a beat. Allison was kissing him, soft and chaste and all too brief. When it broke, she smoothed down his hair affectionately and whispered, “’Bye, Isaac” (which reassured Isaac that she hadn’t somehow confused him for someone else), and then left before Isaac could respond.

The sound of the door closing snapped Isaac immediately out of the fuzzy sleep-plus-kiss-induced stupor he’d been experiencing. Oh, fuck. Scott was there. Scott’s girlfriend had just kissed Isaac while Scott was literally a foot away from them. What the hell was happening? Was this a dream? It had to be; that was the only explanation. But it had felt so real and Isaac was definitely in Scott’s bed and Scott was definitely there and--

“Fuck,” said Isaac, sitting up abruptly and staring down at Scott through the half-light of the rising sun in horror. “Fuck, Scott, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! I-I don’t know why she did that, but I swear I wouldn’t-- I would never-- You know I wouldn’t do that to--”

It was hard to breathe. Isaac’s head was dizzy from panicked guilt and confusion. “I’m sorry,” he repeated as he moved to get out of bed. He needed to leave. Now. He’d find some other place to stay. He had just completely fucked things up, like always. Scott would hate him now. “I’m sorry, Scott, I didn’t mean--”

Scott’s hand around Isaac’s wrist pulled him back down onto the bed. This was it. Scott was going to hit him. Scott was going to beat the living shit out of Isaac, and Isaac deserved it. He forced himself not to fight, squeezing his eyes shut in anticipation of the pain.

“Hey, it’s okay,” said Scott. There was no anger in his voice. It was unnervingly gentle, actually. “I’m not mad. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

If Isaac had thought this situation couldn’t possibly get more bewildering, he’d been wrong. Instead of hitting him, Scott tugged Isaac closer, into the space in the middle of the bed where Allison had slept. The scent made Isaac feel even more guilty, but Scott’s arm was around his back now, and Isaac’s face was pressed into his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” Isaac murmured over and over again, voice muffled by the cloth of Scott’s T-shirt, but Scott kept shushing him and telling him that it was okay, that he wasn’t mad at Isaac, that Isaac hadn’t done anything wrong. His warm hand slid in slow circles over Isaac’s back and arms. His fingers combed through Isaac’s hair. Slowly, with the repeated reassurances that everything was okay and the soothing power of Scott’s hands running over him, Isaac relaxed.

When he finally gathered the courage to look up at Scott, he was met by warm brown eyes in a familiar face that was much closer to Isaac’s than he had expected. Scott’s eyes pulsed red, and Isaac found himself instinctively shifting into a more submissive posture, lifting his chin slightly to bare his throat, eyes burning gold. It was the first time Isaac had ever really submitted to an alpha who wasn’t Derek, and in a weird way he kind of felt like he was cheating on him. In another way, though, it felt _right_.

There was an impossibly long moment where Scott did nothing and Isaac forgot to breathe.

Then Isaac was being kissed for the second time in the span of five minutes. Like Allison’s, the pressure of Scott’s lips was chaste, and there was a hesitance in it, like Scott was worried he might scare Isaac off. Isaac’s pulse definitely skipped that time, and he cursed himself for not responding before Scott pulled away.

Scott’s eyes--which were a deep brown again now--had a hint of uncertainty in them. He was frowning slightly.

“It’s okay if you only want her,” Scott said earnestly in a hushed tone. “I promise I won’t be mad. We’ll… We’ll figure it out. Okay?”

Isaac stared up at Scott in utter disbelief as his brain attempted to process the words. Was Scott saying he’d let Isaac fool around with Allison or something? That he’d just be totally fine with Isaac having some kind of physical relationship with his friggin’ girlfriend? _If you only want her_. No, Isaac didn’t want that. How could Scott think that Isaac…

Words weren’t going to be enough to adequately respond, so instead of speaking, Isaac threw his arm around Scott’s neck and pulled him in for another kiss. He did away with chasteness and softness so he could leave Scott in no doubt of the fact that he didn’t just want Allison; he wanted Scott. He wanted Scott and Allison _together_. He would choose neither of them before he chose just one.

“I’m so fucking confused right now,” Isaac said breathlessly when the kiss broke. “Is this even real?”

“God, I hope so,” said Scott. There was a hint of shyness in his giddy smile.

“And she… Allison’s okay with it?”

“Her idea,” said Scott.

“She has the best ideas.”

“Right?” said Scott, grinning now. Then he shifted closer into Isaac’s space and kissed him again, bracing an arm on Isaac’s other side so he could loom over him a little while Isaac lay beneath him. Isaac pulled Scott down, closer. Every now and then Isaac caught a whiff of Allison’s scent on the pillowcase or the sheets, but it was nice rather than weird.

They stayed there together past dawn, until Scott’s alarm went off. There was making out, on and off, but nothing too intense or too quick. This was very new and confusing, and it would’ve been complicated even without everything else that was going on right now. Honestly, Isaac was just happy to be close to Scott like this, appreciated and wanted and protected. And he was excited to have that with Allison, too, if he could. He wanted to know how they would all fit together.

* * *

ALLISON 

Allison's heart hammered with nervousness as she watched Scott and Isaac approach. They had both come to school together on Scott’s bike, so that was a good sign, but she was still very worried that she had ruined things with Isaac by gambling for more than he would be comfortable with. It wasn’t until Scott gave Allison an enthusiastic greeting kiss that relief washed through her. They were at school so they had to be discreet, but when she looked over at Isaac, he gave her a shy smile. She risked stepping close to give him a quick, reassuring hug. When it broke, she looked up to see that his smile had become more confident. And when she whispered “Later” as a promise that only Isaac and Scott could hear, Isaac actually _blushed_.

She and Scott found some time to talk alone after a quick lunch.

“So,” she said with a knowing smile, “how was your morning with Isaac?”

“Good,” said Scott, looking a little embarrassed, which was adorable. “We, uh. Kissed. A lot.”

“A lot, huh?” Allison stepped closer to Scott and slipped her hands into his jacket pockets so she could tug him toward her. “So I have some catching up to do?”

Scott laughed. “I guess so, yeah.”

“Is he a good kisser?”

“I’d never kissed a guy before, but… yeah. It was different. But good.”

“Better than me?” Allison teased.

“No,” said Scott, quick to reassure her (also adorable). “Just different. I guess you can find out for yourself soon?”

“Guess so,” said Allison, and it was her turn to blush. “He wants to? Both of us?”

“Yeah,” said Scott. “Weird, right?”

“Totally weird.”

“But also kind of awesome?”

“Yes,” Allison agreed with a smile as she took Scott’s hand in hers. “Totally awesome.”

 

 

Isaac answered the door to Scott’s house, and the little surprised smile he gave Allison when he saw her was one of the cutest things she had ever seen. _Cute_. That was definitely not a word Allison would’ve expected to use to describe Isaac before this had started.

“It’s later,” Allison said as she stepped through the door and closed it behind her.

“Later?”

Allison decided not to waste any of the short amount of time she had for this visit, and tugged Isaac down by his shirt so she could kiss away the look of confusion from his face. There was a split second where he didn’t react, then strong hands closed around Allison’s upper arms and Isaac was walking her backwards until her weight was resting against the closed door, kissing her again, then again, growing bolder with each one. Allison looped her arms around Isaac’s neck to keep him close; the height disparity between Isaac and Scott made kissing him very different, but no more or less wonderful. Allison wasn’t quite aware of how caught up she was getting in the kiss until--

“I can hear you guys!” Scott called from upstairs. “Starting to feel a little left out!”

“You two were together without me this morning!” Allison called back, laughing as she took Isaac’s hand and led him up to Scott’s room.

Scott greeted them at his doorway by throwing one arm around Allison’s shoulder and one around Isaac’s waist. He leaned in and gave Allison a long, slow kiss, which Isaac must have gotten impatient with because he bumped his forehead against Scott’s temple and nosed his way in, eagerly kissing Allison again, then Scott.

Allison broke away long enough to murmur, “Only have about an hour. I promised I’d go to Lydia’s for dinner and homework.”

Isaac made a disappointed sound that went straight to the pit of Allison’s stomach and made Scott chuckle. Isaac looked like someone had offered him a taste of an amazing meal and then told him he couldn’t eat the rest of it.

“It’s not like this is your only chance,” Scott said to Isaac, smiling.

“I’ll see if I can come back after,” said Allison. “Depending on where my dad is.”

Isaac gave her another adorable smile, and Allison was really starting to have a hard time reconciling this version of him with the cocky asshole who used to wear black leather jackets and do everything Derek said, including attack her friends. (But then, maybe Isaac was having just as hard a time trying to reconcile who Allison was now with the girl who had mercilessly shot and stabbed him and his pack...)

“So you came by to catch up with Scott?” said Isaac, smile slipping into a smirk. “I’m not sure an hour’s enough for that.”

Okay, so the cockiness wasn’t _completely_ gone.

“Maybe I’m more efficient than Scott,” Allison countered, matching his smirk with one of her own.

“She _is_ pretty efficient,” Scott conceded.

“I dunno,” said Isaac. “Feels like we’re wasting time right now.”

Allison took that comment for the challenge it was. She gave Isaac’s chest an abrupt two-handed push, which sent him staggering backward. Then she stalked toward him--huntress that she was--and pushed at him again. There was no question that he could’ve stopped her if he wanted to (he was a werewolf, after all), but he didn’t. He let her keep pushing him until the back of his legs hit Scott’s bed, causing him to fall onto it.

The smirk never left Isaac’s face as Allison straddled his hips and closed her hands around his wrists, pinning him to the bed. He could easily get away, she knew, and the fact that he didn’t struggle was definitely an ego boost, as was the dazed look in his eyes after she leaned down to kiss him deeply. Allison suspected that kissing Isaac’s smirks away was going to be one of her new favorite things to do.

Isaac seemed to have realized that she had him at a disadvantage then, because he threw his weight to the side, rolling them farther up the bed so that he was the one pinning her there. His cocky smirk had been replaced by a playful grin. A shift in the bed caused by additional weight signaled that Scott had joined them. Isaac had just dipped his head to kiss Allison again when Scott tackled him off of Allison and pinned him instead, laughing. Allison rolled onto her side so she could watch them, and it was…

Well, it was _very_ sexy, that was for sure. Allison’s cheeks grew hot as she watched them, breath catching. But it was also... beautiful. When Allison had pinned Isaac, he had pretended to surrender, smiling all the while. But with Scott, Isaac’s body instantly relaxed, submitting rather than surrendering, and his smile slipped away when they locked eyes. They both seemed frozen for a few seconds. Then, almost shyly, Isaac pulled Scott down for a kiss.

It had been a test, Allison suddenly understood: Scott was going to make Isaac take initiative, not just let Scott lead everything. When their kiss broke, Isaac was smiling. It was only when Scott and Isaac both turned their heads, dark-eyed, to look at Allison that she realized she had been staring at them the entire time.

“She thinks we’re hot,” said Isaac, voice low but smug.

He was, of course, completely right (no one would need werewolf senses to see it), but Allison was determined not to let him get the best of her.

“Was that supposed to be a surprise?” She arched an eyebrow at him.

Scott laughed again. It was becoming pretty clear that he was perfectly happy to let Isaac and Allison try to outwit each other. Isaac’s retaliation was to catch Allison’s wrist in his hand and tug. She resisted on principle, but then Scott caught her other wrist and together they pulled her toward them.

They ended up in a tangle of limbs, with Scott and Allison each sort of half-draped on Isaac, who was splayed on his back. Then there was a _lot_ of kissing, some of it a bit awkward because of a lack of coordination, and at one point Allison found that she had lost track of whose lips were on hers and whose were at her neck. It was a mess in some ways, but in others it was kind of perfect. Having Isaac there was new and exciting, but it also felt surprisingly natural. It didn’t just feel like Allison-and-Scott plus Isaac. It was its own entirely new thing.

The make-out session eventually led to them lying together in Scott’s bed, just quietly enjoying the feeling of _them_ for a little while before Allison had to leave. Allison and Scott were on either side of Isaac, but it wasn’t until she snuggled up close against Isaac’s side and pressed her palm to his chest that she realized he wasn’t as calm as he looked.

“Does your heart always beat this fast?” she whispered, hoping not to make him uncomfortable. “It feels like a rabbit’s.”

Scott lifted his head at Allison’s comment and frowned, looking Isaac over, listening. He sniffed at Isaac’s neck.

“He’s nervous,” said Scott, sounding confused. Scott cocked his head to the side and tried to get Isaac to meet his eyes. “Worried?”

Isaac shrugged noncommittally, but his lack of response was confirmation enough; if he denied it and he was lying, Scott would know, which meant it must be true.

“Isaac,” Allison said as she pressed her hand to the side of his head and gently pulled so it turned to face her. She held his eyes with hers and smiled, hoping to reassure him. “This is the one thing we don’t have to worry about.”

“It’s not just _this_ ,” Isaac said with a sigh. “It’s everything. The alphas and the others, my... pack. It’s all just so fucked up right now, so it’s just... kind of hard not to worry that _this_ is going to get fucked up, too. Or that I’m going to fuck it up,” he added a moment later. “So maybe it _is_ this, I guess. Sort of.”

“Isaac, you’re not going to fuck anything up,” Scott responded before Allison could, but she agreed completely.

“And if you’re worried that _this_ is just because of everything else going on, it’s not,” she added quickly. “Okay?”

After a moment of hesitation, Isaac nodded. Still, Allison wanted to make sure he wouldn’t doubt them. She slid her fingers into his hair and began petting it slowly, and then Scott ran his hand over Isaac’s chest and stomach in slow, repetitive motions. When Scott smiled, Allison knew Isaac’s pulse had slowed down.

“I don’t know about you boys, but I’m not really thinking about ‘why’s’ or ‘what’s going to happen later’s.’” She smirked mischievously. “Can either of you guess what I _am_ thinking about?”

* * *

ISAAC 

Even without werewolf senses, it would have been easy to tell what Allison (or Scott, for that matter) was thinking. Allison’s lips met his and the motion of Scott’s hand was becoming decidedly less reassuring and more… exciting.

“I thought you had to leave soon,” Isaac managed between kisses. He didn’t want Allison to leave, but he figured he might as well remind her now, rather than have her remember after starting something they couldn’t finish.

She groaned and wrinkled her nose at him, as if it was _his_ fault that she had to go, before sitting up.

“Yeah,” she said with a sigh.

Scott sat up, too, and leaned over Isaac to kiss Allison’s cheek.

“It’s okay,” said Scott. “We’re not going anywhere.”

Allison shot Scott a mischievous look under her lashes. “I know. That’s what I’m worried about.”

“Jealous?” Isaac laughed and reached up to knot his hand in Scott’s shirt. With Scott still leaning over him, it was easy to pull himself upright, hook his arm around Scott’s neck, and nuzzle against Scott’s jaw, all the while gauging Allison’s reaction out of the corner of his eye. He watched her bite her lower lip--an action that was clearly meant to hide how sexy she found them. Isaac smirked.

“And if I was?” Allison asked. Her eyes were dark with the obvious invitation and Isaac was once again struck by how fantastic (though still very surreal) this whole situation was.

With that in mind, Isaac found the nerve to cup the back of Allison’s neck with his free hand and, without letting go of Scott, kiss Allison, slow and sweet. She sighed out her breath through her nose and relaxed into it, completely comfortable with him. Honestly, that might’ve been the best part of it: their closeness to him after everything they’d been through. The fact that they could trust him like this after everything he had done.

Isaac felt a pang of disappointment when Allison broke the kiss, which had been _very_ enjoyable, until she glanced over to the side, and when Isaac followed her gaze he was met by Scott’s lips as strong fingers slipped into Isaac’s hair. That kiss was a little rougher and deeper, but still affectionate and much more gentle than what they’d been doing a few minutes ago. It was all amazing. It didn’t occur to Isaac that it could get better until he felt Allison’s soft lips at his neck. Hot shivers coursed through Isaac’s body, and by the time Scott’s mouth left his, Isaac was a disorienting combination of dazed and giddy.

“This is so fucking ridiculous,” said Isaac with a huff of laughter, falling back against the bed.

“Mm-hmm,” Allison said happily. Then Isaac was treated to the sight of Scott and Allison leaning in to kiss each other over him, and it was pretty much the hottest thing Isaac had ever seen (including porn). He felt his face flush.

Scott laughed and ruffled Isaac’s hair affectionately and it was _so unfair_ that Scott could tell how Isaac was reacting to this stuff! And of course Scott had to make it worse by giving Allison a knowing look so that she knew, too. She kissed Scott’s temple and fixed Isaac’s hair. Isaac could already tell that these two were going to be the death of him. But at least it would be a lot more pleasant than being brutally murdered by another werewolf, right?

And if he _was_ going to be brutally murdered soon, he was damned well going to enjoy how much attention he was getting from the two most attractive people (in his not-so-humble opinion) he knew.

Allison left a few minutes later and Scott and Isaac started making plans for dinner. Luckily, Scott’s mom had already accounted for two hungry teenage boys and had left a massive pan of lasagna with the stipulation that Scott would bring some to her at the hospital later since she hadn’t had time to bake it.

Between eating dinner and dropping off food for Melissa, though, Scott insisted on getting some homework done. Isaac would’ve found Scott’s dedication to school admirable, if he didn’t find it kind of dumb when there were a bunch of murderous alpha werewolves who had it out for them. Perspective and priorities and all that. At least Scott didn’t try to get Isaac to do much homework, because Isaac had stopped paying attention in class probably about the time that he’d been bitten and had decided that he’d be more than happy to scrape C’s in his classes just so he could advance to the next year. He didn’t have any ambition to go to college at all, let alone a good one. Maybe with Scott and Allison to help him study, Isaac would be a little more motivated. Assuming they lived through all this crap, obviously.

Isaac offered to take Melissa dinner so that Scott could keep working, but Scott said the break would be good for him.

“It’s not going to take that long. Besides, if I didn’t go, my mom would worry something was wrong. Or that I was taking advantage of you,” Scott added, pulling the leftovers out of the fridge and putting them in his bag.

“Little does she know.” Isaac smirked.

Scott’s smile faltered slightly, and Isaac could tell that he’d somehow struck a nerve.

“I’m sorry, it was a stupid joke,” Isaac said quickly.

“No.” Scott shook his head. He put his hand on Isaac’s shoulder and looked him in the eye. “I know. I just don’t ever want you to think that Allison and I are just using you. Or that you’re not important, because you _are_.”

Isaac’s eyes dropped to his fidgeting fingers. He never could handle Scott’s sincerity. That was why also having Allison around was so perfect. Her humor would’ve balanced out the situation easily. As it was, Scott managed to make Isaac nod his understanding before giving him a “See you later” kiss, which was enough to keep things from getting awkward.

Isaac was lying in Scott’s bed, just starting to doze off when his phone rang.

“Scott?” Isaac answered.

“Allison just called me. Sounds like Lydia found another body.” Scott didn’t waste any time. “They’re at the school.”

“Okay,” said Isaac, more than a little confused. “I don’t think I can really help with that.”

“It’s okay, I just wanted to let you know I’m on my way there now and might be home kind of late.”

“It’s fine,” said Isaac. “I’ve got fresh water and you left the window open a crack. I’m good. I’ll see you later. Good luck with your body.”

Despite his comments, Isaac did wish there was something he could do, but he figured it would be better for everyone if the kid who had been suspected of killing his dad a few months back wasn’t found at the scene of another murder.

Still, he couldn’t help but worry that whoever put the body there might still be hanging around the school. Knowing that Allison and Scott could take care of themselves helped a little, but Isaac knew that he wasn’t going to get much sleep until he knew for sure that they were both okay.

Isaac rolled over on the bed with a sigh and settled in for a very long night.

* * *

SCOTT 

The look on Stiles’ face when Scott told him he was leaving with Deucalion almost broke Scott's resolve to go. But he had to. It was the only way to save his mom. He _had_ to. Even if it meant leaving Allison without telling her why first. Even if it meant abandoning Isaac, who was only just starting to trust him. But they'd be fine until he came back. They had each other, at least.

The amount of time Scott, Allison, and Isaac had spent as a _them_ had still been brief enough that Scott felt like he was going to be missing out on an important part of whatever the hell they were doing. But he trusted Allison and Isaac to take care of each other. He wasn't sure he would've been able to do this if he'd been worried about either of them being alone.

Deucalion could help Scott find his mom. Scott couldn’t just wait around and hope that he and his friends came up with a better plan in time if Deucalion and the alphas could help him now. Besides, helping Scott’s mom would help Stiles’ dad. Scott and the others had been able to keep Stiles from losing control so far, but the longer his dad stayed missing, the more chance there was for Stiles to do something crazy or reckless. 

Scott could honestly say he was happy that Stiles was handling his transition to werewolf so well. Well, better than Scott and Derek and the others had thought that he would. Scott did feel a little guilty that he hadn’t been around much since Stiles got the Bite to help Stiles through it, but judging by the state--and smell--of Stiles’ bedroom, Stiles pretty much had all the help he needed (and Scott really didn’t want to get involved in his best friend’s sex life).

Scott also felt a little guilty about not telling Stiles about him, Allison, and Isaac being a thing. But then, considering the fact that none of them were exactly sure what that thing even _was_ yet, he couldn’t blame himself too much for not saying anything. Besides, Stiles had kept whatever was going on between him and Jackson a secret for months; keeping Isaac a secret for a few more days wouldn’t hurt, right? 

But would it really just be a few more days? If Scott was having a hard time trying to think of how to explain what was going on to his mom and best friend, how would he explain it to a stranger? Did Scott, Allison, and Isaac really want to invite that kind of criticism from people who likely wouldn’t understand them?

It wasn’t like Scott and Allison could just keep Isaac a secret, though. That wasn’t fair to him. And though Scott couldn’t speak for Allison, he wasn’t embarrassed by what they were doing. Sure, their situation might be unorthodox (one of Scott’s newest PSAT words) but he didn’t think that was a bad thing. Still, people might--

“Focus, Scott,” Deucalion said with an infuriating tone of superiority.

For a brief second, Scott flushed, thinking that Deucalion could somehow tell what he’d been thinking about. Then he realized that Ms. Morell was getting close and Deucalion wanted Scott to help them hunt her down. Deucalion must have assumed that Scott was distracted because he was worried about her, or that he was having second thoughts.

Scott was going to do whatever he had to in order to save his mom, but that wasn’t going to include hurting anyone. Not if he could help it, anyway. He knew the other alphas didn’t share his reservations, though, which was why he was determined to keep Ms. Morrell alive.

Part of Scott kept waiting for some kind of compulsion to follow Deucalion’s words when he gave an order--after all, Deucalion was supposed to be ‘the alpha of alphas’--but it never happened. Maybe being a True Alpha put Scott above other alphas. Or maybe none of the alphas were obligated to obey Deucalion and they just did what he said because they wanted to. Scott didn’t know which would be worse.

There were so many questions Scott had about the whole True Alpha thing, but he wasn’t sure he trusted Deucalion to give him straight answers. Just because Deucalion couldn’t lie to someone with werewolf senses didn’t mean he wouldn’t leave out important information or let Scott jump to the wrong conclusions. He might promise Scott information or lessons over time if Scott stayed with the alpha pack.

In any case, Scott couldn’t afford upsetting Deucalion before he found his mom, so despite all of the questions he wanted to ask, he stayed silent and hoped that he’d be able to find answers somewhere else when this was all over.

And judging from the sounds coming closer to them, one way or another, it would all be over soon.

* * *

ALLISON 

He’d lied to her. Her father had _lied_ to her and then _sacrificed_ himself so that he could find Scott and Stiles’ parents. It was a noble and selfless thing to do and Allison should have been thinking about how brave he was but instead she was just angry and scared that he was going to get himself killed and it wasn’t fair because he was _her_ dad.

Maybe she wouldn’t have been so angry if she hadn’t been handcuffed to the wall of a bank vault. Maybe.

She didn’t even bother pulling at the handcuff. It was too tight to slip her hand out of and she knew she would’ve needed werewolf strength to break the chain. Luckily, she had a werewolf close enough to help, even if he was still wheezing on the ground from being tazed in the stomach.

Allison kept staring at the vault door, wishing her dad would come back, that it had just been some kind of elaborate trap and that he was stopping Ms. Blake right now and saving Scott’s mom and Stiles’ dad and this whole thing was almost over.

Suddenly, Isaac was beside her. She hadn’t even heard him get up.

“Allison, are you okay?” he asked. She almost laughed, wondering how someone could get tazed in the stomach and still manage to think of someone else before themself. She nodded vaguely, and after quickly looking her over as if to reassure himself that that was the case, Isaac’s eyes settled back on her face.

“I’m going to have to break the chain,” he said, unnecessarily. They didn’t have any other choice, but it seemed like he was asking for permission, so Allison nodded again. Isaac stepped in close and braced one hand on Allison’s waist for support. He wrapped his other hand carefully around where the chain met the cuff and started pulling.

After a few painfully long seconds, one of the links gave out, the sudden release of pressure sending Allison into Isaac’s arms, free. Isaac steadied her on her feet and almost pulled away, but Allison tightened her grip on his arms. She felt dizzy and worried and angry, and the world was swimming before her eyes. Even if she hadn’t had a reason for wanting Isaac to stay close, she still would’ve needed him to keep her upright.

“Why did he do that?” she asked finally.

“I don’t know,” Isaac said quickly. Allison couldn’t meet his eyes, but she could feel Isaac studying her face intently. “We need to go. Okay? We need help.”

The spinning was getting worse, along with the persistent idea that it was already too late. She felt Isaac pulling away. She grabbed his wrist desperately and felt a brief flash of relief when he took her hand.

“Allison... Allison, we have to go,” Isaac insisted. 

And she knew he was right and that the longer they stayed there, the longer they waited, the less time they would have to find her dad and the other parents alive. It didn’t change the fact that she was scared and frustrated and just wanted their friends and family to all be safe and for this to be one big nightmare.

But it wasn’t. It was real life, and in real life, there were rarely happy endings.

Allison finally looked up and met Isaac’s eyes.

“They're all gonna die,” she said, watching Isaac’s reaction. “Aren't they?”

Isaac wouldn’t lie to her. He was sarcastic and flippant and reckless to the point of self-endangerment, but he wasn’t a liar. He wouldn’t lie to her. And right then, Allison needed to hear that Isaac didn’t think it was too late to save her dad and the others.

But Isaac, never one to soften hard truths, didn’t say anything, and Allison felt her eyes begin to burn. Before the tears could start, Isaac was already wrapping his arms around her, like he was trying to somehow shield her from the pain and fear she was feeling, even though they both knew that was impossible. His hand cradled her head, his arm wrapped around her back. He was protecting her. Allison wasn’t sure if Isaac had ever tried to protect anyone before, but he was good at it.

He kissed the top of her head and started murmuring reassurances and promises into her hair--that her dad knew what he was doing, that Scott would come back and they still had time to figure something out and find everyone’s parents. It felt like Isaac needed to hear it just as much as she did.

“You don’t know that,” she choked out between small sobs.

“Maybe I don’t,” said Isaac. “But it’s not over yet. Okay? There’s still time.”

Allison shook her head, face pressed against Isaac’s shoulder. “We don’t know where they are. They could be anywhere.”

“We’ll meet up with the others,” said Isaac. He was petting her hair, hushing her softly. “I’ll text Stiles. We’ll figure something out.”

“I hate this,” Allison said with a sniffle. “I _hate_ crying.”

She banged a fist against Isaac’s chest for emphasis, but not hard enough to even hurt a human. There was so much helpless frustration within her, and it was obvious that Isaac desperately wanted to fix it.

“Well, I won’t tell anyone,” said Isaac, his voice light. “Who’d believe me anyway? Allison Argent is way too much of a badass to cry.”

“Damned right.” Allison sniffed again and wiped at her eyes. “And Isaac Lahey doesn’t go all Prince Charming on weeping damsels.”

Isaac smiled at that, which was a very ‘Isaac’ thing to do, considering it was completely inappropriate for the situation.

“Fuck no,” Isaac agreed. “That guy hates everyone. Major tool.”

Allison couldn’t help but laugh. Clearly Isaac’s context-inappropriate humor was rubbing off on her. But then she felt her face slip into a frown again when it occurred to her how nice it would’ve been to have Scott there with them, smiling inappropriately and protecting her, too, with that sweetness of his that was part of what she loved about him.

“I…” Allison swallowed hard. “I don’t know if I can just forgive Scott for this if he comes back.”

“ _When_ he comes back,” Isaac insisted.

“When he comes back,” she agreed, though there was still a cold ball of anxious doubt in her stomach that held all the possible scenarios in which Scott could be killed while he was with Deucalion. “I just… I don’t understand how he could do this to us.”

“It’s not something he’s doing to us,” Isaac said wisely. “It’s not about us. It’s about his mom.”

“I know,” Allison admitted, because of course Isaac was right. But that didn’t make it hurt less. “But we could’ve figured it out without Deucalion’s help. We could’ve found her, and Stiles’ dad, a-and my dad.”

Allison cursed her own voice for breaking. She also cursed her dad for giving himself up like that. What had he been thinking? If he had just waited, that would’ve bought them more time. Why did no one trust that they were stronger together?

“He wasn’t thinking straight. He can’t lose her,” said Isaac, his voice adamant. “And you can’t lose your dad. That’s not going to happen, okay? I won’t let it.”

Allison wasn’t naive enough to let herself completely believe that Isaac could save her dad and Scott’s mom, but she did believe in Isaac’s conviction, and that meant a lot to her. Allison’s fingers found Isaac’s, twined with them, hand gripping his tightly.

“Thank you,” she whispered gratefully.

And then Isaac was kissing her and she was kissing him back and wishing they had more time. She broke the kiss far too quickly and turned her face away when he went to kiss her again.

“I’m sorry,” said Isaac, and Allison could hear the hurt in his voice. This was all so new, so delicate, Allison didn’t want to make Isaac think he’d done something wrong, but he’d been right before; they had to go.

She shook her head and said, “Later,” hoping to remind him of the other day. It seemed to work and he nodded, looking more self-assured.

“Come on,” she said, wiping away the last of her tears and setting her face into a strong, resolved expression. “Let’s find the others.”

* * *

ISAAC 

Seeing Scott and Allison submerged in those tubs was causing Isaac an almost physical pain. Not knowing if they were ever going to wake up again, after Isaac had literally helped hold Scott under the water as he thrashed, helping him _drown_ … It was almost too much for Isaac to bear.

He couldn’t remember much about when this had been done to him, but Isaac had come back okay, so that meant the others would too, right? That fact didn’t stop him from wondering how someone was supposed to come back from having their face _under water_ for hours and hours, though. Isaac sucked at being an optimist.

Deaton had left Isaac, Jackson, and Lydia alone for the most part. A crazy voice in the back of Isaac’s head suggested that Deaton had left because he’d just convinced three unstable teenagers to murder three more of their friends and didn’t want to be linked to the crime. But the slightly more sane voice countered that it was just because he was trying to be considerate and give them space. Not that it mattered either way; it was too late to do anything now but wait. 

Which they did. For sixteen hours. Isaac counted every second, every step he made pacing across the worn tile floor, every painfully slow beat of Scott and Allison’s hearts.

All of that waiting gave Isaac plenty of time to think. Mostly about the last thing he’d said to Derek:

_You can sit here and perfect the art of doing nothing._

And what was Isaac doing now? Absolutely _nothing_. He was sitting and waiting for a tree to give his half-dead friends directions while the alphas and Miss Blake only grew stronger. Unfortunately, it would be too much to hope for all of their enemies to take each other out and leave a convenient map to where Isaac’s friends’ parents had been taken. Probably.

He wondered how Cora was doing, if she’d improved at all, if Derek was still sitting there trying to will her to get better or if he’d found a way to help her. Isaac felt a pang of guilt about not staying, but stopping Miss Blake was the best way to help Cora, to help _everyone_. Isaac was sure of it.

He hated the idea of losing another packmate.

If she still was his pack mate. If Derek was still his alpha. If Isaac hadn’t completely irrevocably severed those connections by forging new ones with Scott and Allison. If Isaac would be all alone if Allison and Scott never woke up and Cora died and Derek was killed by the alphas and Jackson and Stiles had each other and Miss Blake went all Darach on Beacon Hills and sacrificed everyone that was left and--

Seriously, Isaac needed something to do. _Anything_. Anything that wasn’t just sitting (well, pacing all over the clinic) and waiting for the worst to happen.

Maybe he should go back to check on Cora, to fix things with Derek. It wasn’t too late. He could probably make it there and back before the others came out of their friggin’ ice-trance or whatever the hell magic process made it possible for humans, to be half-drowned for sixteen hours and not die. He could… go do nothing with Derek instead of doing nothing with Scott and the others. And still not be able to help anyone.

As usual, Isaac was the most useless person he knew.

Indecision left Isaac paralyzed until something inside him… _changed_. It felt like a cord snapping under too much pressure, and Isaac suddenly felt completely disoriented, like he couldn’t tell which way was up anymore.

He stumbled forward, shouting Derek’s name as the realization hit him that his connection to his alpha was completely gone. Isaac managed to make it back to the room with the tubs where Jackson and Lydia were waiting--Jackson looking as stunned as Isaac felt.

Cora’s call didn’t really help Isaac’s indecision, but Scott and Allison finally waking up did. Isaac couldn’t leave now, even if Cora clearly wasn’t telling them everything about what was going on back at the loft.

Jackson was beside Stiles’ tub almost before Isaac realized what was happening, but Isaac stayed frozen where he was.

Isaac watched with his heart in his throat while Allison lept out of the tub and threw herself into Scott’s arms, hugging him fiercely. She was so overwhelmed by obvious relief that she was half laughing, and Scott smiled that knee-weakening smile at her before kissing her. It made Isaac’s chest ache, seeing them together like that, and before he knew what he was doing, his feet had started carrying him towards them.

If losing Derek’s connection was like a cord snapping inside of him, then whatever he was feeling now was the recoil, and it flung him straight to Scott and Allison.

Isaac hadn’t planned on doing anything, not in front of the others. What the three of them had was still too new, too unsure. Just being close to them, reassuring himself that they were alive, would be enough for him. Or so he thought. But the moment Scott’s eyes met his, the instant Allison’s hand reached out for him, Isaac knew that there was no way he could keep himself away.

Scott and Allison had done too good a job of helping Isaac put himself back together over the past few weeks. There was no part of Isaac that didn’t ache for Scott’s approval, for Allison’s concern. There was no more hesitation.

Their hug was a tangle of arms and drenched clothes that soaked Isaac in seconds, but the cold only made him draw Allison and Scott closer as he tried to warm them up. It was an affectionate, intimate kind of hug. Isaac’s head tipped down, pressing his forehead against Allison’s while Scott pressed his face into the crook of Isaac’s neck and inhaled his scent like, well, like he hadn’t taken a proper breath in sixteen hours. Relief made Isaac’s knees weak, but somehow, braced against each other, they all stayed standing.

Isaac didn’t know who initiated the kiss, but Allison’s lips were on his before Isaac could worry about who might see, what they might think. Then Scott was impatiently grabbing Isaac so that he could kiss him too, and Isaac would’ve been happy to stay that way forever, one hand on Allison’s arm at Scott’s waist, and the other tangled with Scott’s fingers in Allison’s hair.

Maybe Isaac shouldn’t have let himself get so close to Scott and Allison. Maybe he should’ve gone off on his own and disappeared after Derek had kicked him out, or maybe he should’ve fought Derek harder and forced Derek to let him stay. Maybe if he hadn’t gone home with Scott after the disastrous night at the loft, or if he and Boyd had never tried to outsmart the alpha pack…

The list was endless and it was pointless now to wonder how things could have turned out differently. Some or all of them might still die tonight, and Isaac was just glad that he could enjoy being with Scott and Allison completely for a few moments without any hesitation or feelings of guilt or betrayal. Without his connection to Derek, Isaac could see that Scott was undeniably his alpha, and had been for a while

He wasn’t sure what that made the three of them, but since everyone they knew was probably going to die tonight, Isaac didn’t see the harm in making the most of whatever it was while they still could.

* * *

SCOTT 

Derek had a ladder at the loft. Scott offered to follow him there on his bike to help get it, but Derek said that wasn’t necessary, and that Scott should go to the Nemeton ahead of him to see if he could help. Scott didn’t need much convincing.

When he got to the Nemeton, he found Isaac sitting on the ground nearby. He was covered in dirt and was taking slow, deep breaths. The crack of a twig snapping under Scott’s shoe made Isaac instantly look up. He shot to his feet as Scott broke into a run, closing the distance between them and throwing his arms around Isaac. They hugged so tightly it was almost difficult to breathe, which made Scott let out a gasping half-laugh, which made Isaac loosen his grip and start laughing, too. They kept laughing until they were kissing, Scott’s arms around Isaac’s neck and Isaac’s fingers gripping Scott’s hair.

It took a moment for Scott to realize that something felt different. It was like there was this… closeness. That hadn’t been there before. Was it just relief? It felt like more than that. Scott’s eyes widened as realization dawned on him. He leaned back so he could look up at Isaac.

“Are you…?” he started to ask, not sure what he intended to say.

Isaac’s response was wordless: he locked eyes with Scott’s and they burned gold. Scott had seen Isaac’s werewolf eyes dozens of times, but now it felt like he was really seeing them for the first time. Scott felt his own eyes pulse red.

“Derek’s not an alpha anymore,” said Isaac. “But, uh. Honestly, I think _this_ was already a done deal.”

Scott’s heart swelled with a joyful sense of rightness and belonging. His beta. Isaac was his beta. He pressed his palm to the back of Isaac’s neck and dragged him in for another, deeper kiss.

It was only when Scott registered the voices of his mom, Stiles, Allison, the sheriff, and Argent talking below ground that he broke away from Isaac. Isaac was flushed and smiling shyly.

“We should probably--” Isaac started.

“Yeah,” said Scott, smiling, too. They both went over to the hole where Isaac had climbed out.

“I should probably check on them in case the ceiling shifts again or something,” said Scott. “You gonna be okay waiting up here for Derek?”

Isaac nodded. “Go see your mom. I’m good.”

Scott was basically attacked with hugs as soon as he got down into the cellar: his mom, Allison, Stiles, and then even Stiles’ dad and Argent. Scott felt a twinge of guilt even as he enjoyed his reunion kiss with Allison, because it wasn’t fair to Isaac that it was okay for him to kiss Allison in front of everyone but not Isaac. That was something they were going to have to deal with later.

The important part right now, though, was that they were safe. Scott couldn’t quite believe it. All of the people he cared about being alive and safe, it was almost too good to be true.

Getting everyone out of the cellar didn’t take too long once Derek arrived with the ladder, and then there was the matter of getting the parents to the hospital (something Scott’s mom was very adamant about). Since Allison was the only non-werewolf who had brought a car, her dad, Stiles’ dad, and Scott’s mom all rode with her while Isaac and Scott followed on his bike. (Technically there would have been room for Isaac to squeeze into Allison’s car, but thankfully no one had questioned it. Scott liked having Isaac on the bike with him.) Now that the storm was over, riding was much easier, but Isaac still held onto Scott tighter than he needed to. Not that Scott minded. He knew how Isaac felt about small, enclosed spaces, and Scott could tell that the walls literally closing in on Isaac had really shaken him.

After helping their injured parents inside the hospital and getting them all looked after by the nurses, Scott had been struck by the weirdest feeling: there was literally nothing for them to do. No fire to put out, no friend they needed to rush to help, no homework to do… Scott couldn’t even remember the last time he hadn’t had some responsibility or other to take care of.

Not that he thought it would last long.

They probably could have gone home then, but even though neither Scott nor Allison had said anything, it had actually been Isaac who’d suggested that they stay nearby. He could probably tell that Scott and Allison were still more than a little worried about their parents. So the three of them settled down in the backseat of Allison’s car with Scott between Allison and Isaac in the parking lot of the hospital to wait. They were all a little grimy (especially Isaac and Allison, who smelled like the dirt from the ground that had nearly collapsed in on the), but all of them were too tired to care.

Scott shut his eyes and settled a little more comfortably against Isaac’s chest. He could tell from the steady pulse against his back that Isaac was almost asleep. Allison was curled up against Scott’s chest, fingers tapping against his leg restlessly, and Isaac had one arm draped around both of them. Despite the car not having the most spacious backseat, they had all managed to fit relatively comfortably, settling in for a long night.

Still, Scott knew everything wasn’t completely okay yet. Neither Allison nor Isaac had said much to him since he had left with Deucalion, and maybe it was time to do something about that.

“I’m sorry,” Scott murmured. Allison tilted her head up to look at him and he felt Isaac stir slightly behind him.

“Go on,” said Allison.

“I’m sorry for going off on my own. I shouldn’t have left you guys like that.”

“You wanted to save your mom,” Isaac said through a yawn. “I’d call that a decent excuse.”

“I don’t,” said Allison, her eyes narrowing dangerously. Scott ducked his head reflexively.

“You’re an alpha now, Scott,” she scolded. “You have to remember that we’re stronger together. You don’t get to just go off and try to solve everyone’s problems by yourself. That’s why you have me. That’s why you have _us_.” She linked her fingers with Isaac’s where they were draped across her shoulder.

Isaac nuzzled the skin behind Scott’s ear and made a small sound of agreement.

Guilt pooled in his stomach and rose until he could taste it, bitter in his mouth. “I’m sorry,” Scott repeated earnestly, because he didn’t know what else to say.

“You scared me, Scott,” Allison said, dropping her head and pressing her cheek to his chest. Her other hand found Scott’s, which she squeezed for emphasis. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d lost you. Either of you, or my dad, or our friends. I can’t lose anyone else.”

Scott knew she was thinking about her mom, about her aunt, but he didn’t want to apologize again. He wanted to say something reassuring, something meaningful.

Isaac said something first, though.

“Let’s just all agree that Allison could easily find and destroy Scott if he ever does something that stupid and reckless again, and I’d probably help. I’d probably even feel bad about it,” he added after a moment.

Scott laughed. “So that’s how it’s going to be?”

“Oh yeah,” said Isaac, and Scott could hear the smile in his voice. Well, the smirk. “I mean, you’re great and all, Scott, but Allison is way scarier than you. And smarter. And has access to lots and lots of weapons.”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” Scott said, smiling too. Allison was practically shaking with laughter against his chest.

“What if I promise to be less dumb in the future?” Scott asked.

“That’s a start,” said Isaac, tightening his hold on Scott and Allison.

“And I’ll always ask for your advice.”

“And listen to it,” Allison added.

“And listen to it,” Scott agreed.

“Okay, I forgive you.” Allison finally relaxed completely against him, releasing some tension Scott hadn’t even noticed that she had been carrying. He started running his fingers through her hair and settled back once more against Isaac’s chest.

“So,” Allison drawled, “Isaac’s your beta now?”

Scott blinked. He hadn’t had a chance to tell Allison yet, and judging from the way Isaac jumped slightly behind him, Scott didn’t think Isaac had told her either.

“How did you--”

Allison laughed and snuggled against his chest. “I don’t know, but it wasn’t hard to tell. Maybe I’m just perceptive.”

Isaac laughed. “Yeah? Then why were you the last to know about Stiles and Jackson?”

Allison took a playful swipe at Isaac. “Well, maybe I’m just perceptive about the people I care about.”

Isaac caught her hand and Scott laughed while they playfully struggled. Allison shifted to her knees for better leverage but ended up almost slipping off the seat, sending them all into a helpless fit of laughter. It felt amazing to laugh like this after what they’d all just been through.

Scott wrapped his arms around Allison and pulled her back against him and Isaac. He smiled into her hair when Allison and Isaac both sighed in contentment. Scott lifted his arm and cupped the back of Isaac’s neck.

“What would I do without you guys?” Scott murmured.

“Let’s not find out,” Allison said quickly and behind him, Isaac nodded.

Suddenly Allison groaned. “Speaking of finding out, my dad is going to kill me. I can hear him now. ‘Another werewolf?!’” she mimicked.

Scott winced. “Yeah, explaining this is going to be interesting.”

He felt Isaac fidget behind him.

“We don’t… We don’t _have_ to tell anyone,” said Isaac.

“What?” Scott craned his head back to look at Isaac, who was adamantly trying--unsuccessfully--to duck down behind Scott’s shoulder. Finally Isaac sighed and shrugged awkwardly.

“I just mean, it might complicate… things… if people knew.”

Allison and Scott both shifted so they could look at Isaac, which was made awkward by them both trying to turn around at the same time while staying on the seat.

“Are you worried about what people are going to think?” Allison asked.

“Isaac, we’re not going to keep you a secret!” Scott insisted. Even if they wanted to, it wasn’t like their friends and families wouldn’t figure it out eventually. Better to be the ones to tell them.

“I don’t mind,” Isaac said, staring down at his hands. “I can’t be the only one here who can see this is kind of an _unusual_ situation. You guys already have a good thing going. I don’t want to complicate things.”

“Isaac.” Scott reached out and took Isaac’s hand, making Isaac cautiously look up and meet his eyes. “We’re not going to keep you a secret. It’s not fair to you.”

Isaac’s smile was wry.

“I don’t mind,” he said again.

“Well I _do_ ,” Scott insisted. “We just saved a lot of people’s lives. If they feel weird about me kissing my boyfriend, that’s their problem. They should really get some perspective.”

Isaac’s eyes widened, then he immediately looked off to the side, self-conscious and unsure.

“Boyfriend?”

Scott suddenly realized what he’d said. “I mean-- If that’s cool with-- Unless you don’t want--?”

“Of course he wants you to call him your boyfriend,” said Allison, like they were both being ridiculous. She wrapped her arms around Scott from behind and hooked her chin over his shoulder. “Look at his face.”

Isaac’s cheeks were pretty red, but when he glanced cautiously back at Scott and Allison, eyes darting between them, he looked hopeful. Like he was finally accepting that this might not be just a temporary situation.

Allison slipped around Scott so that she could settle in Isaac’s lap. He didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around her and bury his face in her hair. He looked up a moment later, smiling openly at Scott. “How come she knows everything?”

“Because I’m perfect,” Allison said smugly, nestling against Isaac and batting her lashes at Scott. “That’s what Scott says, anyway.”

“Scott’s usually right,” said Isaac. He dipped his head to kiss Allison’s temple. “So, uh… Am I _your_ boyfriend, too?”

“I don’t know,” said Allison looking up at him, biting her bottom lip coyly, one hand loosely gripping Isaac’s shirt. “Think you can handle me?”

“I definitely _want_ to,” said Isaac. He raised an eyebrow at her suggestively. She teased him for another few seconds before sitting up and kissing him.

“And you’re _our_ girlfriend?” Isaac asked when the kiss broke, glancing at Scott on the word ‘our.’

Allison grinned. “I like that. ‘Our.’ It has a nice ring to it.”

She shifted so that she was lying back against Isaac’s chest the way Scott had been earlier and opened her arms to Scott. He didn’t waste any time lying down with his back against her chest. He worried for a moment that he would be too heavy, but then Allison and Isaac’s hands were on him and Scott relaxed against her.

She kissed Scott’s cheek, then craned her head back to kiss Isaac. Scott felt her settle in comfortably between them. “My boyfriends. My boys.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand we're done! That was fast. Hope those of you who are Scallisaac fans (and/or just wanted more _DL_ ) enjoyed the cuteness that got me and Savannah through the tough parts of the main arc of _DL_ and _[The Strength of the Wolf](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3703403)_ (a long Isaac/Jackson fic we wrote together). Thank you all so much for reading!
> 
> Lenna


End file.
